African Membership of the Arab League, Commonwealth, la Francophonie, and CPLP Implications of Divided Allegiance for Regional Integration in Africa

One of the explanations given for the collapse of European colonial empires in Africa was that the imperial powers concluded that it would be more profitable to control these colonies indirectly than it would be to do so directly. They therefore decided to withdraw militarily in favour of keeping economic and friendly diplomatic ties with their respective colonies. And so many African countries, save Algeria and those under Portuguese colonial grip, regained their sovereignty with little or no military struggle. Nearly half a century on, the neo-colonial project seems to be even more profitable than its architects might have hoped for.