AFRICA: THE EMPIRE FRANCE REFUSED TO END (Africa Series)

The flags came down. The empire did not.

AFRICA: THE EMPIRE FRANCE REFUSED TO END examines the system that outlived formal colonial rule: Françafrique, the web of monetary, military, political, commercial, intelligence, and media relationships through which France preserved extraordinary influence across much of Africa.

With West Africa at its center, Marcus A. Sterling follows the machinery of power from the CFA franc and decades of permanent military basing to resource access, elite networks, interventions, and diplomatic pressure. He traces the deeper history from Algeria's war of independence to the upheaval transforming the Sahel in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and the wider rupture reaching Chad, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and beyond.

Drawing on declassified archives, parliamentary records, court documents, and the author's firsthand experience managing the French military warehouse at Kamembe Airport during Operation Turquoise, this is a history grounded in primary sources rather than slogans.

Inside is a story of presidents protected and abandoned, currencies defended, resources contested, narratives shaped, and African populations increasingly unwilling to accept arrangements inherited from the colonial era.

This is not an argument that France caused every African failure. Nor does it excuse the African rulers and elites who benefited from the system. It is an investigation of power: who built it, who profited, how it survived decolonization, why it is breaking, and what may replace it.

French-language edition: AFRIQUE : L’EMPIRE AUQUEL LA FRANCE N’A JAMAIS RENONCÉ

For readers who want to understand why France's position in Africa is unraveling, and what comes next.