The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State

Governance and Security Challenges in Africa

W. Alade Fawole

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781978751613
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

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 of contents

• Cover
• The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State
• The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State: Governance and Security Challenges in Africa
• copyright page
• Contents
• Preface: Is Africa Post-Colonial, Neo-Colonial, or Post-Colonized?
• Acknowledgments
• Colonial Rule, Disengagement, and the Post-Colonial State
• The Political Architecture of Colonial Rule in Africa
• The Second World War and the End of Empire
• US Interests in Africa
• Regional Examples of Illusive Post-Colonial States
• Somalia under Foreign Rule
• Algeria: The Quintessential Settler-Colony
• An Illusive Post-Colonial State?
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author