Global Finance and Colonial Continuity in Africa

This book examines how colonialism persists beyond formal political independence through interconnected systems of global finance, development governance, and knowledge production that continue to structure asymmetrical relations between the Global North and the Global South. Rather than treating these domains as separate fields of inquiry, the book advances the concept of “colonial continuity” to demonstrate how contemporary neo-colonial power operates through mutually reinforcing institutional architectures. Focusing primarily on Africa within the broader context of global political economy, the book critically analyses the role of international financial institutions, reserve currency systems, debt governance, development conditionalities, transnational elite networks, and epistemological hierarchies in reproducing dependency and limiting sovereign developmental trajectories. Particular attention is given to the institutional mechanisms through which power is exercised, including IMF conditionality, World Bank knowledge production, dollar hegemony, financialized global governance, and the politics of development expertise. The book also interrogates emerging alternatives within an evolving multipolar world. Rather than assuming these alternatives are inherently emancipatory, the book evaluates whether they fundamentally transform historical structures of domination or risk reproducing them under new geopolitical conditions. Methodologically, the study adopts a critical interdisciplinary and non-positivist approach grounded in historical political economy, decolonial theory, and institutional analysis, while selectively incorporating empirical illustrations relating to debt dependency, climate finance, reserve currency structures, and financial governance. The book contributes to contemporary debates on decolonization, global governance, financial sovereignty, and development alternatives by demonstrating how colonial power persists through interconnected institutional systems and by exploring pathways toward more autonomous and equitable futures for Africa and the Global South.