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This book challenges the long-held conventional wisdom that Africa is a post-colonial society of sovereign nation-states despite the outward attributes of statehood: demarcated territories, permanent populations, governments, national currencies, police, and armed forces. While it is true that African nation-states have been gifted flag independence by their respective colonial masters, few have reached fully developed status as a secure nation-state. Most African nation-states have, since independence, been grappling with the crisis of state-building, nation-building, governance, and myriad security challenges which have been chronically exacerbated by the dynamics of the post-Cold War era. To focus merely on the agency of the African political elite and their inability to sustain functional modern nation-states misses the point. The central argument of the book is that an understanding of Africa's contemporary governance and security challenges requires us to historicize the discourse surrounding nation-building and state-building throughout Africa.
Table des matières
Preface: Is Africa Post-Colonial, Neo-colonial, or Post-Colonized?
Part I: Colonial Rule, Disengagement and the Post-Colonial State
Introduction and Conceptual Discourse
Chapter 1: Colonial Rule and the Political Architecture of the Post-Colonial State
Chapter 2: The Grant of Independence: Imperialist Conspiracy and the Subversion of the Post-Colonial State
Chapter 3: Britain and the Orchestration of Pseudo-Decolonization
Chapter 4: The Role of France in the Subversion of the Post-Colonial State
Chapter 5: Portugal: Forced Decolonization and its Consequences
Chapter 6: The United States and the Political and Economic Destabilization of Africa
Part II: Regional Examples of Illusive Post-Colonial States
Chapter 7: Nigeria: The Illusive Post-Colony
Chapter 8: Mali: From Instability to Insurgency and Near Obliteration
Chapter 9: Somalia: From State Collapse to Rogue State
Chapter 10: Algeria: Descent into Dictatorship
Chapter 11: Democratic Republic of Congo: The Colony that Never Became a State
Chapter 12: Mozambique: From Revolutionary Possibilities to Contrived Instability and State Failure
Chapter 13: Contemporary Nation-Building, Governance, and Security Challenges in Africa
Conclusion: The Illusive Post-Colonial State: What Hope for Survival?
A propos de l'auteur
W. Alade Fawole is professor in the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University.
