Evolutions And Impacts Of French Military Interventions In Francophone Africa In The Post-cold War Era

As former sovereign state, France has maintained its military interventions in Francophone Africa. During the previous years after the decolonization of Africa, France practiced the ? militarism ?, and then, it played the role as ? African gendarme ?. More recently, we say the post-cold war era, France has proposed the ? re-intervention? policy. In fact, the Francophone Africa has always played an important role in French military strategy.To begin with, this paper reviews briefly the history of French military intervention in the colonial period and the cold war period. After a discussion on the history and status quo of French military interventions in Francophone Africa, the author uses case analysis method to study French recent interventions in Francophone Africa: Operation Licorne(in Ivory Coast), Operation Serval(in Mali) and Operation Sangrais(in Center Africa). Through the comparison of these three operations in the aspects of speed of response, the manner of coordination and the results of interventions, the study found that after the end of the cold war, although the defense expense continues to cut,the frequency of French interventions in Africa did not fall, instead, it has increased. France has established a military force which is more efficient and more flexible; the troops have acquired diverse ways of intervention. In the meantime, France makes efforts to promote the construction of a more powerful security system and the enhancement of military capacities in Francophone Africa.According to the current political situation in Africa, the author holds the opinion that, due to structural violence and non-structural violence, civil wars happen frequently in Africa after the end of the cold war; the western countries are under the pressure from emerging countries, the latter attach great importance to Africa in geopolitical strategies; and also, the French leaders do not want to give up the vested interest in Francophone Africa. These factors prompted the French government and the military to maintain a flexible military force in Africa and coordinate the overseas military power with the national military deployment, for the purpose of maintaining its presence in this region. All of these moves have been fit into French national military strategy and its diplomacy mode.On this basis, the article demonstrates the influence of French military intervention from two aspects. In the post-cold war period, the French military intervention in francophone countries has undoubtedly helped to maintain regional and global security, but in the meantime, it has also caused risks and challenges. In recent years, France has been striving for the legal authority of the Security Council of the United Nations to intervene militarily in African crisis, cooperating with the African Union to solve the regional security problems and participating in military peacekeeping operations in Francophone Africa authorized by the United Nations African. These military operations have contributed to avoid serious humanitarian tragedies, but the direct armed intervention in the affairs of other countries has also led to controversial disputes.In the end, this article attempts to assess and reflect the future trend of the French military intervention in Francophone Africa and Chinese overseas military policy. In the long run, the French military intervention in Francophone Africa will inevitably be affected by the strategy of the other countries. This is not only because the United States, Britain and other western countries are making strategic adjustments according to the changing situation, but also because more and more emerging countries become conscious of the international responsibility that they should be charged with. International competition in Francophone Africa is intensifying. Besides, the overall strength of Europe has been weakened by the refugee crisis and terrorism while the rise of emerging countries is inevitable. The French strategic space in Francophone Africa will continue be squeezed with the rise of the emerging countries. These arguments are enough to prove that the diplomatic mode of French military intervention can’t prevent the decline in France’s great power status. At the same time, there exists much military experiences in French African military strategies for China to learn, including the balance of independent military action and multilateral military cooperation, the capacity of rapid counterattacks well as the reformation of the overseas army. Nowadays, China has more and more profound interests all around the world, but our overseas military force is still unable to meet the demand of expansion of national interests. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an effective military force to protect the interests of overseas and to learn from the French military interventions: to establish an overseas army which is efficient and flexible with minimal costs, to enhance rapid response capacity and to protect overseas Chinese as well as their property in case of crisis.