In Paris, we hear the same refrain everywhere: "Françafrique is dead and buried!" Yet, from Ouagadougou to Libreville, from Dakar to Yaoundé, from Bamako to Abidjan, young people are rebelling against what they perceive as French control over their destiny.

Fifteen years after World War II, France officially granted independence to its former African colonies. A deceptive freedom. In reality, Paris perpetuated the French Empire in another form:

Françafrique. A system that combines official, assumed, and claimed mechanisms (military, monetary, diplomatic, cultural, etc.) with shadowy, unofficial, and often criminal logic. A system built against the interests of the people, with the consent of a section of the African elite and which always benefits African autocrats who are "friends of France." A system that all French presidents have allowed to prosper, despite promises of "rupture."

Exceptional in its scope and unprecedented in its content, this work traces this little-known history, from the colonial origins of Françafrique to its most recent developments. Written by renowned specialists – researchers, journalists, and community activists – the contributions gathered in this book show that the Françafrique system, far from disintegrating, continues to adapt in order to endure.