Corruption, long ignored by international organizations, is now one of their major preoccupations: it is considered largely responsible for the failure of development in Africa. To appreciate the changes in corruption in Africa over the past fifteen years, the authors begin with the model of the neo-patrimonial state and the specific nature of corruption, which they qualify as (neo) patrimonial, in order to examine the effects of the generalization of the crisis in Africa in the eighties and nineties, and of the proposed remedies, to corruption. The authors also discuss the causes, nature, forms and consequences of corruption in Africa. Even if the similarity to the patrimonial ideal type allows us to refer to neo-patrimonial corruption or to qualify the post-colonial State as neo-patrimonial, it is only an approximation. Even before the crisis, many differences in degree or of nature could be observed between the countries and regions of Africa.