'Melanie Torrent's book is an important scholarly contribution to international relations at the end of European empires and in the age of African independences. It will find a powerful resonance outside academia in diplomacy, not only from the point of view of the historian, but because her masterly analysis of such a complex web of political and cultural issues provides ... Read morepresent and future practitioners on the African scene with a compelling reference, which could be termed "post-post colonial". It also undoubtedly offers a renewed approach to decolonisation and nationbuilding on the background of debates between the post-colonial theory and its consequences on the theory of international relations.' -Jean-Claude Redonnet, Professor (Emeritus) and Research Director at Universite de Paris-Sorbonne Show Less