Suchergebnisse

The French exception: rise and fall of a Saint-Simonian discourse / Sue Collard -- Reviving the French exception? Sarkozy, authoritarian populism and the Bonapartist tradition / Nick Hewlett -- Social policy and France's 'exceptional' social model / Susan Milner -- L'exception culturelle / Hugh Dauncey -- The French extreme left and the persistence of a revolutionary myth / David Bell -- French Euroscepticism and the construction of national exceptionalism / Robert Harmsen -- French immigration policy in comparative perspective / Martin A. Schain -- France, Islam and Laïcité: colonial exceptions, contemporary reinventions and European convergence / Natalya Vince -- From private lives to intimate revelations: politicians and the media in contemporary France / Raymond Kuhn -- France, Europe and the limits of exceptionalism / Helen Drake -- Back to the future? Franco-African relations in the shadow of France's colonial past / Margaret A. Majumdar, Tony Chafer -- A view from the South. France in African eyes: universalism and Francophonie reassessed / Abdoulaye Gueye -- French exceptionalism and the Sarkozy presidency / Tony Chafer, Emmanuel Godin

Prelude to decolonization : the Popular Front and the Second World War -- New political context, 1944-6 -- Decolonization through assimilation : the struggle for emancipation, 1946-50 -- Building the nationalist movement, 1950-6 : the trade union, student and youth movements -- Policy and politics, 1950-6 -- The Loi-cadre and the 'Balkanization' of French West Africa, 1956-60 -- Nationalist politics and the campaign for independence, 1957-60 -- Conclusion : decolonization and the French colonial legacy

This article addresses the question whether the French military intervention in Mali in 2013 (Operation Serval) and the follow-up Operation Barkhane are evidence of a new French military strategy in Africa. The first part briefly sets out the chronology of events that led to the French intervention. The decision-making process in Paris that led to the decision to intervene and the sequence of events following the intervention is then examined, in order to show that this raised important questions about the viability of the key principles – partnership, 'Africanization' and 'Europeanization' – that informed and underpinned France's Africa policy from the late 1990s. It is argued that Operation Serval and the follow-on operation, Barkhane, need to be understood, first, in the context of the importance attached to Africa as a privileged arena for the projection of French power overseas. Second, they must be understood in the geopolitical context of the neo-liberal post-Cold War international order, within which France, as a major western power and permanent member of the UNSC, feels it has a responsibility to undertake certain actions. Third, they should also be understood against the background of the failure to reform the institutional architecture of Africa policy-making, in particular the roles of the Ministry of Defence and the 'Africa cell' at the Elysée Palace, which have traditionally played a pivotal role in Africa policy. Finally, the article argues that a new Africa strategy did emerge under President Hollande, albeit in an unplanned and incremental manner, but that the resulting policy is some distance from representing a renovated, or 'normalized', Africa policy based on a new partnership with Africa.

ABSTRACTAt their 1998 Saint-Malo summit, the UK and French governments promised to set aside a century of rivalry and cooperate more closely on Africa. They also signalled their intention to develop a continent-wide focus on Africa, which would include building up the capacity of regional organisations. They were helped in this latter goal by the winding up of the OAU and its replacement by the AU in 2002. This article therefore examines the extent and nature of Anglo-French cooperation vis-à-vis the AU. It sets out briefly the history of UK and French neglect of the OAU, reviews the key developments that pushed for a more coordinated stance on the AU, and then – drawing on extensive interviews in London, Paris, Brussels, Addis Ababa and Dakar – evaluates the extent of Anglo-French cooperation. It concludes by noting the uneven nature of Anglo-French cooperation vis-à-vis the AU and assesses the reasons for this.