The postcolonial African state that was described in the first and second chapters is ‘the ideal’ or ‘what ought to be.’ If you shift your gaze from ‘the ideal’ or ‘what ought to be’ to ‘the non-ideal’ or ‘what is,’ you will see a postcolonial African state that has deviated from the basic structure that I describe in the first and second chapters. This chapter looks at whether the postcolonial African state embodies the basic structure, and even if the postcolonial African state does not embody the basic structure, at least whether the former approximates to the latter, and if the former approximates to the latter, to what extent the former approximates to the latter. For the above purpose, the chapter does two kinds of reflection. Firstly, it does a prima facie reflection on the developmental condition of the neocolonial African state—the neo-colony. Secondly, it does a meta reflection on the systemic condition of the postcolonial African state—the post-colony. Embarking on the aforementioned task, what I see is an African state that is simultaneously: in the prima facie reflection, a neo-colony that manifests a set of paradoxes, and in the meta reflection, a post-colony that is still carrying historical burdens.