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Jour Fixe with Martin Rempe, 10 January 2011
01/06/2011
We kindly invite you to the first Jour Fixe of the new year by Martin Rempe on "Decolonization by Europeanization? The EEC and the transformation of French-African Relations". Ulrike Lorenz is going to be discussant.
The Jour Fixe begins at 4.15 pm (16.15 Uhr) and takes place at Ihnestr. 26, Room 202.
Abstract
Franafrique, Francophonie, l'tat franco-africain and Mafiafrique all these terms are commonly used if one comes to talk about French-African relations after the severing of colonial ties in 1960. Albeit bearing slightly different meanings, they share the notion of a very close, stable, and continuous if not to say colonially-styled relationship. According to the relevant literature, the EEC acted thereby as a stabilizing instrument. Against this backdrop, the paper tries to present new perspectives on the complex relationship between the EEC, France and its former African colonies associated to the community since 1958. The paper explores to what extent France's belonging to the EEC triggered Europeanization processes that directly affected French-African relations and eventually acted in favor of decolonization of metropolitan France. I will argue that, in the course of the 1960ies, emulation of community procedures as well as supranational legal coercion transformed to a certain extent French development co-operation and trade relations with the Francophone African states and in the end fostered France's regional reconfiguration towards Europe.
