Two major problems confront an outsider seeking to understand, or a ne
wcomer seeking to participate in structural adjustment: first it has a
deceptively familiar terminology in which familiar words have special
ized (and changing) meanings and second, structural adjustment in SSA
has been radically adjusted over the past decade. The two major sectio
ns of this editorial seek to provide guides to the terminology and to
how the ''lessons of experience'' have altered the substance, time hor
izons and presentation of structural adjustment. They also pose some o
f major present gaps or unresolved problem area.