Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface: is Africa post-colonial, neo-colonial, or post-colonized? -- Part I: Colonial rule, disengagement and the post-colonial state -- Introduction and conceptual discourse -- Colonial rule and the political architecture of the post-colonial state -- The grant of independence: imperialist conspiracy and the subversion of the post-colonial state -- Britain and the orchestration of pseudo-decolonization -- The role of France in the subversion of the post-colonial state -- Portugal: forced decolonization and its consequences -- The United States and the political and economic destabilization of Africa -- Part II: Regional examples of illusive post-colonial states -- Nigeria: the illusive post-colony -- Mali: from instability to insurgency and near obliteration -- Somalia: from state collapse to rogue state -- Algeria: descent into dictatorship -- Democratic republic of Congo: the colony that never became a state -- Mozambique: from revolutionary possibilities to contrived instability and state failure -- Contemporary nation-building, governance, and security challenges in Africa -- Conclusion: The illusive post-colonial state: what hope for survival?.

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