A. Carl LeVan (Ed.), Dictators and Democracy in African Development: The Political Economy of Good Governance in Nigeria, Cambridge, New York, 2015, pp. 282, US$ 31.99, ISBN: 978-1-107-08114-7
This chapter examines the development of open source computer software with specific reference to the political economy of copyleft and the legalities associated with the General Public License (GPL). It will be seen that within the context of computer software development the notion of copyleft provides an important contrast to more traditional uses of copyright. This contrast symbolizes political, economic, and social struggles which are contextualized within this chapter. As the GPL is an important legal embodiment of copyleft, its legalities are preliminarily explored so as to determine its future potential. While there is some scope to further refine the legal strength of the GPL, it will be seen that it remains a strong and subversive legal instrument which will continue to underlie open source initiatives in the years to come.