Côte d'Ivoire (1960–2026)

Union, Discipline, Work — and what happened when the order was reversed.

On 7 August 1960, before the National Assembly in Abidjan, Félix Houphouët-Boigny proclaimed the independence of Côte d'Ivoire: "the long-awaited hour has come when your destiny belongs to you entirely." For thirty-three years the country had one president and no coup, and grew on cocoa, foreign capital and an open door to migrant planters into the "Ivorian miracle". Within six years of his death it had its first coup; within nine, a civil war that cut the country in two; and in 2010–11 a dispute over an election that killed some three thousand people. The question at the heart of that war — who is a true Ivorian, and who decides — was a question about the strangers the miracle had invited. The country then rebuilt itself faster than almost any other in Africa.

Côte d'Ivoire: A Narrative History of Post-Colonial Leaders tells that story as a story — chronological, human and sourced. Five acts, named as the book names them: The Old Man's Miracle, The Question of Belonging, The General's Ten Months, The Divided Country, and The Economist's Republic — to 24 June 2026, when the IMF completed the final reviews of the country's 2023 programme and judged its risk of debt distress low.

Inside:

• The deep past — Kong and the Dyula traders, Queen Abla Pokou and the crossing of the Baoulé, the ivory coast and the boy Aniaba, Grand-Bassam and Bingerville, Samori Touré and the "pacification", the planters' union and the road to 7 August 1960
• The national emblem — the elephant's head on a green shield between two palm trees, emblems of two rival parties joined on one seal; the orange, white and green flag of 1959; the motto "Union, Discipline, Travail" and the anthem L'Abidjanaise
• Five illustrated acts, from independence to the IMF exit of June 2026 — Houphouët's wager with Nkrumah, the false plots, the cocoa war and the Basilica; the devaluation of 1994 and ivoirité; the Christmas Eve coup of 1999 and the grave at Yopougon; the rebellion of 2002, Marcoussis, November 2004, the Probo Koala, the flame of peace, two presidents and the battle for Abidjan; the constitution of 2016, the death of a dauphin and a fourth term
• The country beneath the presidents — cocoa and the children who work it, the vanishing forest, strangers and citizens, Abidjan, the prophet Harris, mosques and a basilica, the women who marched on Grand-Bassam, zouglou and coupé-décalé, Dadié and Kourouma, and the Elephants, whose captain asked a nation at war to lay down its arms
• Verified quotes from Côte d'Ivoire's leaders, and 54 key-fact cards on the pages that carry no picture or quote
• A chronology, a table of the country's leaders (five presidents and two prime ministers, Alassane Ouattara and Guillaume Soro), 67 source notes and a reader's guide of 128 entries — books, scholarly articles and chapters, reports and journalism, and primary sources
• Lessons in Leadership — what the country's best and worst moments teach those who lead, and an epilogue on the latest official data to September 2026 (the national statistics agency, the IMF, the World Bank and the regional central bank)
• The recurring patterns — the cocoa pendulum, who belongs, the excluded rival, the succession left unprepared, France in the room, growth without enough sharing, the quick rebound, and the handshake of the old men

A clear, sourced introduction for anyone who wants to understand Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, and how prosperity is made, how it is lost, and how hard it is to share.

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