Francophone African Countries At Crossroads: Can China Be An Option? Case Of The Former AOF And AEF Since1960

This thesis is developed into six chapters having each a main objective to achieve.Chapter One which is the Introduction is mainly devoted to position this work inits context by specifying the nature of what we called the AOF and the AEF, theirrelations with France and also with China. Thus, the introduction showed that thesetwo federations of African territories, a total of14, had a long history under Frenchrule. In1960, most of those territories gained their independence and these newAfrican countries begun to organize themselves in order to launch their development.The introduction proceeds to the statement of the subject which is to invest on thestudy of Francophone Africa since1960, meaning to explore the relationship betweenthis group of African countries with their metropolis that is France. Indeed, theFrench-speaking Africa in general and specifically the two former regionalfederations namely the AOF and the AEF had a particular importance in France'sforeign policy since colonization period to the present. In this logic, we understandthat through the colonization in AOF and AEF, French administration establishedtheir domination on this vast region since French language, traditions, laws,administration and educational system have been imposed. However, it was noted thatalthough France's influence on her former African colonies, namely on the formerAOF and the AEF federations is a reality up to now, it started to be challenged withthe events of the1990s. Indeed from that decade, the needs of democratic, economicand political openness forced Francophone African leaders in general and space of theformer AOF and AEF in particular to diversify and strengthen their relations withforeign partners. Regarding the justification of the subject, it was clarified that thecultural and political diversity on the African continent, especially in FrancophoneAfrican countries and face with some common characteristics of our study area, thespecificity and realities of the AOF and the AEF make of the topic a stimulating andchallenging topic of study. Also relations between France and her former Africancolonies have always been our passion and an insatiable desire to decipher andunderstand them has constantly been an obsession. One of the important aspects of theintroduction is the research questions and the hypothesis, but the main questionguiding our research is to understand WHY and HOW since their independence in the1960s Francophone African countries generally, and those of the former federations of AOF and AEF particularly through successive events have to some extent succeedto escape from the control of France without exactly knowing if they have to entirelyengage with other partners, particularly China? Through this main question, we fixedsome goals to be achieved through the research and the development of this thesis.Then we adopted a methodology that guides the research and includes the writingtechnic. Thus, the methodology essentially consists of the collection of differentdocuments followed by their technical analysis, which implies the theoreticalframework. Obviously, the theoretical framework is essential in such a research. Withthis in mind it was deemed appropriate to apply the dependence theory as frameworkto the research and as a guide to interpret the available data. Generally, thedependency theory means a situation in which the economic, political, and socio-cultural lives of some countries are conditioned by other countries whosedevelopment and economic and political expansion is relatively advanced than thoseof dependent countries. The introduction gave a consideration to the definition ofconcepts in order to clarify the understanding they bear in this study. Finally, thereview of the literature, the limitations of the study and the structure of the thesis endsthe first chapter.Chapter Two analyses the emergence process of the AOF and AEF federationsand their management by France before1960, showing that the contacts betweenEurope and Africa dated many years back. Then the discovery of African richeswhetted Europeans' appetite in general and France's in particular for the continent,and accentuated the colonization phenomenon of Africa by European powers at thetime and their need to multiply trading posts on African coast in order to promote andsupport their nascent industrial development at that time. Thus, competition forsecuring raw materials and overseas markets increased. In France, the of fan colonialexpansion Paul Leroy-Beaulieu emphasized the importance of colonies for trade,industry, employment and consumption for the metropolis. In turn, in1890JulesFerry clearly expressed French intentions uttering that colonial policy is the daughterof industrial policy. Thus France sought at any price to win the largest possible spaceto ensure the supply and the African market for her production and embarked ontocolonization in Africa. But the great event of the colonial conquest was the BerlinConference of November15,1884to February23,1885and the consequences itbrought to the continent. Following this, the territories of the former AOF and AEFfederations of Francophone Africa that are the focus of this thesis have been conquered by France. These arrangements of colonies in federations facilitated thehierarchical centralization of French administration in Africa, simplifying the workingrelation between the metropolitan government and the colonies. After the conquest ofthese territories, the French decided to exploit them by instituting for example a taxsystem that was set up in those federations, trade, but also there were some Frenchachievements in each federation. In1960, all the former AOF and AEF territories gottheir independence and made their entry into the United Nations. That was how thetwo former federations of French colonies in West and Equatorial Africa experiencedtheir disappearance with the territories' accession to independence, announcing a newera in relations between France and her former African colonies.Chapter Three focusses on the development of postcolonial relations betweenFrance and her former African colonies by analyzing each of the characteristics thatstrengthened their relations since1960until the late1990s. But the analysis of thetrajectories of the different groups of developing countries since1960demonstratesthe ruin that the dependence on the uncertain conditional charity of Western donorsand international institutions leads to. The relationship between France and her formerAfrican colonies after independence are not outside of this reality. First in terms ofdomestic politics, Francophone African states did not opt for a liberal democracy justafter independence. Because, in the1960s, Francophone African leaders claimed thatpolitical systems with strong central governments were essential for peacefulcoexistence of ethnic groups and for rapid economic development. Most of theseleaders believed therefore that the multiparty political systems were the vehicle ofethnic, religious and social divisions and in this context would be in contradictionwith the logic of integration and national cohesion. Consequently, after independence,all the Francophone African countries chose the one-party political system which wasdesigned to represent the whole society. For France, this option was an opportunity toget closer to her former African colonies, and therefore the relationship between Parisand the African capitals were strengthened. Based on the assumptions of thedependency theory, this chapter argued that relations between France and her formercolonies were simply dominated by France and that Francophone African countriesdepended in almost all areas. In this logic, instead of participating in an outbreak or tothe economic development of Francophone countries, the assessment of France'sinvolvement in Francophone Africa is biased and controversial. African countries kepttheir relations with France in1960to ensure her support. But compared to the pre- colonial period, the complexity of relations between France and her former colonies isin the post-colonial period, especially between1960and1990. Economically, therewere certainly relations between France and her former African colonies but resultsare diverse. According to some appreciations, these relations were not fair, while forothers they were the expression of a fair and laborious collaboration between Parisand African capitals. In the political level, political relations between France andAfrican countries since1960until the1990s were simply qualified as a specialrelationship in which all the successive French presidents during this period left theirmark on these relations. We can conclude on one hand that the legacy of de Gaulle,the "Gaullism" has survived and continued after de Gaulle and on the second handthat the "Foccart-network" did not disappear with the disappearance of JacquesFoccart from the African Affairs Office in1974. This chapter shows that this Frenchpolicy had accomplice in Francophone Africa, among the African heads of state, asmost presidents of this period in Francophone Africa used to have personalrelationship with Paris, which contributed somehow to the success of the Fran afrique.One could say that these involvement and complicity of France in Francophone Africawere some of the reasons of the instability and the wind that blew over the formerFrench African colonies during the1990s, during a part of the Mitterrand presidency.Chapter Four delves into the problem of the1990s and makes the analysis ofthese contemporary facts from French side and the Francophone Africa side as wellby focusing on the consideration of the various events of the1990s and their impacton these two actors. The period between independence and the end of the1980s wasmarked by a strong presence of France in her former African colonies and an entiredependence of these countries on their former colonial power. In all activity sectors ofthese countries, France exercised an undisputed influence, but this situation happenedwith the complicity of African leaders. Suddenly from the end of the1980s, severalparameters occurred both on national and international level. As it is impossible tostudy the contemporary international relations of Francophone African countrieswithout mentioning their relations with France, it is also inevitable to measure theparticularity of the1990s on the course of history between these actors. By the waythis decade is very important to understand some contemporary and geopoliticalevents of the French-speaking Africa as the1960s is important for this group ofcountries formerly colonized by France. A deeper analysis of the particularity of the1990s shows that the events that took place in the1990s in Francophone Africa had distant sources, located in areas outside of the scope of this study, or entirely outsideof the African continent. Each of these sources, of course, directly or indirectlyimpacted the French-speaking Africa and in symbiosis influenced the course of eventsin this region. Since the late1980's important events occurred in Eastern Europe,France, and even Africa; and each of them had an influence on African countries ingeneral, but especially on Francophone Africa because since then, events acceleratedthis group of countries colonized by France. It is obvious that international eventswere not the cause of democratic awakening of the1990s in Francophone Africa, butthey nonetheless prepared a favorable international environment and paved the way tofurther developments that took place in Francophone Africa in that period. Even ifthere were accusations about Francophone Africa on the fact that the elections andreforms of the1990s were another form to legalize or constitutionalize autocrats inpower, it is obvious that competitive elections were organized and attended byopposition parties, the very first since independence in the1960s. One even observedin some cases that the opposition parties have come to take power and thus launchsome countries on the path of political change. Still, the countries in which thisalternation had not taken place still experienced political reforms that legalizedopposition parties that began to play an important role in strengthening the institutionsthat came out from the demands of this decade. Besides the legalization of politicalparties, reforms also concerned the media and civil society groups that have becomeimportant actors in the political process of the Francophone countries of Africa. Notto be excessive, it can be said that undeniable progress were made in FrancophoneAfrica since the end of the Cold War. So it is true that the way to achieve political anddemocratic maturity in Francophone Africa was still considerable, but steps made byFrancophone Africa in the1990s were an important asset that in the reality heralded anew era in international relations and in political dynamics of Francophone Africa inthe21stcentury. This new century is characterized by an increasing globalization,which involves diversification of political, commercial and even social partners. Inthis century, then, a major player will disrupt the long-standing relations betweenFrance and her former African colonies and strengthen her presence in FrancophoneAfrican countries with a new approach to cooperation: it is the People's Republic ofChina.Chapter Five is devoted to a comparative analysis of relations between theFrench-speaking Africa, France and China since the1990s based on the dependency theory's approach by showing that contrary to the dependency between FrancophoneAfrica and the France, the Sino-African relations are totally different. In this case, thedependency is mutual, and China and Francophone Africa feel comfortable with thisreciprocity in their relations. Thus, since the late1980s and especially during the1990s when the French-speaking Africa was in "turmoil" and its elites were forced toreview their policy and some of them were forced to give up and leave the power thatmost of them occupied for decades, China was sidelined in the international arenaafter the June1989events. Surely, it was obvious that something was going to happenin Africa; we realized that China would go there to seek allies and support fromAfrican nations and African people. Manifestly, that was the case. During the1990s,many changes occurred which contributed to a kind of redistribution of Africangeopolitical realities. Thus, the democratization process initiated in (Francophone)Africa and the evolvement of the globalization in the1990s foreshadowed a newinternational situation and the possibility of changing trends in Africa. Additionallyfrom that decade, the succession of events led to the situation that France had started,to some extent, to lose her dominance over her former African colonies. What wassignificant is that since then, China began to strengthen her position on theinternational arena with an unprecedented economic development. Particularly inAfrican countries, the position of China is increasing and getting stronger andrelations between Beijing and the African capitals were developing. We can thenunderstand that the situation in which was Francophone Africa is a deadlock and adilemma created by the intersection of history and modernity. Because of historicallinks with France, the latter is a phase of decline in her former African colonies. Chinaon her part, because of her approach to African countries has increased andprosperous relations with them. And that is the meaning and scope of the impasse andcrossroads for Francophone Africa. Ultimately, this chapter clarified that it is true thatthe relations between Francophone countries and China are good and continue to bestrengthened. Also it is normal to see that France is in decline in her former colonies.However, it is inconceivable today that Francophone Africa shifts to the Chinese side,or that China could be in a position to "replace" France in her former colonies.Although China is a potential choice, historical reasons and a long-standing relationsforged between France and these African countries are not readily about to be broken,at least in the foreseeable future. Finally, Chapter Six is the conclusion which summarizes the achievements andformulates some recommendations to the various actors of this thesis.