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?.