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In stark contrast to the Nigerian Civil War, when the Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny supported the secessionist Biafran Republic against the Federal Military Government, early postcolonial relations between Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria were close. This 'entente cordiale' was underpinned by the friendship of Houphouët-Boigny and the Nigerian Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who were both anti-communist, pro-western, capitalist, and in favour of African co-operation instead of integration. Yet it was Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah who, through his criticism and alleged subversive machinations against Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria, gave the two countries their common purpose. Focusing, unlike previous scholarship, on the military and strategic responses of Abidjan and Lagos to Accra, and based on multi-archival research, this article argues that the Nkrumah factor brought about a strategic alignment between Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria. It also shows, however, that despite a common threat assessment, domestic politics had a decisive and diverging impact on the foreign and security policies of the two states, and that regional and colonial legacies turned out to have a more significant impact on early postcolonial Africa than did the Cold War. The article sheds light on African agency, while simultaneously going beyond and, more significantly, offering an alternative perspective to the Cold War-driven historiography of early postcolonial Africa, and its tendency to focus on external rather than African actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, French policy-makers have promised an indirect approach to African security in partnership with regional organisations. Yet this shift towards capacity-building, Africanisation and multilateralisation has not necessarily been followed, and forceful French military interventions in Africa have still taken place. This article thus aims to assess whether, to what extent, and why the theoretical convergence of France’s African security policy and the peacekeeping aspirations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) does not necessarily translate into practice. Through the analysis of the evolution of France’s African security policy and ECOWAS’ peacekeeping record, the French capacity-building efforts in West Africa, and the roles of France and ECOWAS in the Ivorian and Malian crises, this article will show that convergence in practice depends on the nature of an individual crisis, as well as the political, strategic, and economic interests of both France and ECOWAS member states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of VertigO is the property of La Revue Electronique en Sciences de l'Environnement VertigO and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of VertigO is the property of La Revue Electronique en Sciences de l'Environnement VertigO and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of VertigO is the property of La Revue Electronique en Sciences de l'Environnement VertigO and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of VertigO is the property of La Revue Electronique en Sciences de l'Environnement VertigO and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)