The book did a critical examination of the pre-colonial African political structures. This is done with a view to reject the toga of 'bad governance' associated with post-colonial African states as self-imposed injury. In doing this, efforts are geared towards showing Africa as having diverse political systems that cannot be reconstructed with a single best-practice governance template. These efforts are underlined by a conviction that pre-colonial African societies were though non-liberal but capable of sustaining political systems with inclusive governance as against elite-centred liberal system that characterises the post-colonial states