Book Review Charles Thomas and Toyin Falola, Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2020. Pp. Viii, 344.

Abstract

The book, Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa, is a timely intervention on this important dimension to conflicts in Africa, especially in the post-cold war order where intra-state conflicts have become the norm rather than exception. Armed with suitably relevant historical analysis and epistemological methodology, the authors cleverly approach the varieties of conflict cases associated with secessionist, separatist and irredentist moves and Movements across Africa. Such liberation efforts span through struggles towards decolonization and struggles for self-determination or autonomy. The arrangement of the book is methodical, encompassing the dynamics and structures of successful, failed, protracted and short-lived attempts at secession and separatism in Africa and implications for sub-Saharan African states.