POST-COLONIALISM AT ITS FINEST OR WHAT? EXPLAINING LA ‘FRANCAFRIQUE’ IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Abstrakt

This research examines the extent to which ‘Françafrique’ exists in the 21st century in view of the recent coup d’états’ in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon as case-studies. Four schools of thought are presented on ‘Françafrique’s’ robustness: the Ideological school, the Regime theory school, the post-colonial theory and the Afrocentric School. ‘Françafrique’ is analysed within five concrete, observable implications: the rationale for dismantling French Military bases in those countries, severing the deeply rooted preconceived financial servitude, military interventionism, corruption of African leaders, and an over-estimation of France’s economic interest in the continent. At the heart of all these lies a profound ignorance of bilateral and contextual dynamics in favour of outdated generalisations and economic relations with Metropolitan France. The overall trends and takeaways are evaluated, considering all implications and the changes over time. The question we ask is: is ‘Francafrique’ waning as ‘a policy of engagement’ within Francophone Africa? Alternatively, is Gaston Monnervile, the former French head of the Senate’s addressed in France, a truism when he said: “Without overseas territory, today’s France would decline to be a lesser power needing to be liberated instead of the winner of WWII”. In contexture: ‘Are chickens coming home to roost’ as in Former President François Mitterrand’s earlier assertion that “without Africa, there would be no history of France in the 21^st century.”