Africa Before, During and After Colonial Rule

Abstract

The second chapter discusses pre-colonial political institutions in Africa and external involvement in state construction on the continent through colonization, highlighting the shortcomings of the colonizers’ attempts at engineering institutional change in the colonized regions of Africa. It also discusses the post-colonial state’s internal and external challenges, and the increase in violent conflict in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, which witnessed an increase in international peace support operations that promoted the liberal peace on the continent. The chapter acknowledges the significance of history and set the context for understanding local agency/African agency, hybrid political orders and peace, multiple authorities in most African societies including Sierra Leone and the role of customary governance and law in social order, welfare and stability.