ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, numerous peripheral zones have gone through conflict situations, which have required the curative or preventive intervention of the international community. Africa, and in particular sub-Saharan Africa, is one of the most destabilized regions in this new geopolitical context. The study of the political mechanism of political transition in the African State is necessary in order to determine the nature of intra-State conflict. Bringing back peace means restoring the State as the centre of gravity of the political process. This therefore implies that the State can no longer be the monopoly of a specific political group. Inequality between competing groups was a reality before Independence but it has deepened afterwards thanks to the fact that the dominant groups, by controlling the State machinery, had extremely efficient coercive mechanisms. The financial size of the African State had to shrink to a status compatible with its real economic performances.
