Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: state, civil society and external interests -- History: Africa's pre-colonial and colonial inheritance ; Case study: Kenya's historical inheritance -- Ideology: nationalism, socialism, populism and state capitalism ; Case study: socialism and Ujamaa in Tanzania -- Ethnicity and religion: 'tribes', gods and political identity ; Case study: ethnicity, religion and the nation-state in Nigeria -- Social class: the search for class politics in Africa ; Case study: social class in Botswana -- Legitimacy: neo-patrimonialism, personal rule and the centralisation of the African state ; Case study: personal rule in Ct̥e D'Ivoire -- Coercion: military intervention in African politics ; Case study: Uganda's 1971 military coup -- Sovereignty I: external influences on African politics ; Case study: Somalia's international relations -- Sovereignty II: neo-colonialism, structural adjustment and Africa's political economy ; Case study: Ghana's structural adjustment -- Authority: the crises of accumulation, governance and state collapse ; Case study: Zaire, Mobutu s vampire state -- Democracy: re-legitimising the african state? ; Case study: Zimbabwe's fall from democratic grace -- Conclusions: the changing relationship between state, civil society and external interests in the post colonial era.