The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State

Governance and Security Challenges in Africa

By (author) W. Alade Fawole

Publication date:

01 June 2018

Length of book:

254 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498564601

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.

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?

In The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State, William Fawole artfully and intelligently rewrites the political science rulebook on the African postcolonial state. Taking a distinctive multi-disciplinary and multi-country approach, Fawole takes the reader on an illuminating tour of the discursive milestones in the evolution of a much-contested institution. The result is a bracing and historically grounded analysis that will appeal equally to students of Africa’s international relations, postcolonial history, state-society relations, foreign policy, and democratization.