Description: 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.
Brief description: Mélanie Torrent is Professor of British and Commonwealth History at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University in London, UK and was a junior member of the Institut universitaire de France. She is the author of Diplomacy and Nation-Building: Franco-British Relations and Cameroon at the End of Empire (2012).