African states were successors in a double sense. First, they were built on a set of institutions – bureaucracies, militaries, customs facilities, post offices, and (for a time at least) legislatures – set up by colonial regimes, as well as on a principle of state sovereignty sanctified by a community of already existing states. In this sense, African states have proven durable: borders have remained largely unchanged (with the notable exceptions of the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia and South Sudan from Sudan). Almost every piece of Africa is recognized from outside as a territorial entity, regardless of the effective power of the actual government within that space. Even so-called failed states – those unable to provide order and minimal services for their citizens – are still states, and derive resources from outside for that reason.
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