'Gregory Mann gives us a thought-provoking, nuanced, deeply researched exposition of what sovereignty does and does not mean in the context of the decolonization of French West Africa and the inability of African states to meet the hopes of most of their citizens. He explores Africans' immersion in different forms of connection across space, conflicting claims of African states and ... Read morethe French government to regulate cross-border migration within Africa, controversies over the rights of former citizens from Africa to work and live in France, and the effects of NGO interventions on how Africa is governed.' Frederick Cooper, author of Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945–1960 'While the rise of NGOs has too often been treated as a simple product of 'neoliberalism', Gregory Mann here argues that, at least in the Sahel, it was international interventions during an earlier period of supposedly strong state sovereignty that laid the foundations for 'nongovernmentality'. An original and important contribution.' James Ferguson, Stanford University, California 'Driving across the Sahel, but refusing stereotypes, Gregory Mann discovered that it was anticolonialists who opened borders to nongovernmental organizations, which 'reprogrammed' their hosts but in a complex pattern of coexistence. A new sort of politics was created, with the rise of neoliberalism … Cutting across space and time in an original way, the book magnificently complicates so many familiar stories that it makes crucial reading for anyone interested in the makings of our times.' Samuel Moyn, Harvard University, Massachusetts 'This well-researched and written book surveys the pursuit and practice of sovereignty in the Sahel, notably Soudan/Mali … This innovative and insightful book includes maps and deserves inclusion in research university libraries. Summing up: highly recommended.' P. C. Naylor, Choice Show Less