Diplomacy and Nation-Building in Africa: Franco-British relations and Cameroon at the End of Empire

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Cameroon stands as a remarkable example of nation-building in the aftermath of European domination. Split between the French and British empires after World War I, it experienced a unique drive for self-determination at the turn of the 1960s, culminating in both independence from European power and the re-unification of two of its divided territories. This book investigates the influence of foreign policy on nation-building in West Africa in the context of both the Cold War and European integration. Shedding fresh light on the challenges of bridging the political, economic and linguistic divide that France and Britain had left, Melanie Torrent explores the evolution of a nation, charting both Cameroon's importance in Franco-British relations and Cameroon's use of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy in asserting its independence. This work should be essential reading for students of African studies, International Relations and the post-colonial world.

Reviews

'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 present 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

Author Bio

Melanie Torrent is senior lecturer in British history and civilisation at the Institut Charles V, Universite Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and completed her PhD in English Studies at the Universite Paris-Sorbonne.