Marco Wyss. Postcolonial Security: Britain, France, and West Africa’s Cold War.

Abstract

In this rich, thoroughly researched account, Postcolonial Security: Britain, France, and West Africa’s Cold War, Marco Wyss compares French and British approaches to African decolonization during the period 1958 to 1966. After World War II, France and the United Kingdom—the preeminent colonial powers—used their resource-rich colonies to rebuild their war-ravaged economies and to secure once again their status in the world arena. They were challenged in this endeavor by the emerging Cold War superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Africa became a Cold War battleground, and the Western alliance fractured. France, a long-time rival of the United Kingdom, perceived threats in the new anglophone powers—the United States, especially, but also Nigeria, which played a growing role on the African continent. As African colonies obtained political independence in the 1960s, France and the United Kingdom embraced different strategies to protect their interests. This book investigates the postindependence security roles of the two European powers in their most important former colonies: Côte d’Ivoire (France) and Nigeria (United Kingdom). It focuses on the period including the transfer of power and the early years of independence. Comparing the divergent strategies pursued by the one-time imperial powers, the book also shows how African leaders played on Cold War and intra-alliance tensions to promote their own interests.