French Neocolonialism in Africa: Historical Overview and Summary of Current Events

Elvine Belinda Andjembe Etogho, Sphynx Egbe‐Mbah Eben and Amy L. Dalton

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2022, vol. 81, issue 5, 829-849

Abstract: It is widely understood that, over a half‐century ago, most nations of Africa gained formal independence from colonial powers. What is not widely known is that in former French and Portuguese colonies, France was able to retain a significant degree of control over the economics and politics through a neocolonial system dubbed la Françafrique. Under that system, France has made use of the CFA franc, the management of natural resources, and one‐sided commercial contracts to siphon off much of the economic surplus generated by these 23 nations. In addition, France has effectively installed puppet governments in many nations and stifled dissent throughout the continent. Dissent against French domination of Africa has occurred at various times during the long period of Françafrique, and has intensified significantly in recent years. Several governments in West Africa are now openly rebelling against France, and diasporan communities and influential individuals are increasingly speaking out to support and interpret this dissent. This article provides an historical overview of Françafrique, reviews its current impacts, and sketches the contours of the growing movement to dismantle it.

Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12493

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:81:y:2022:i:5:p:829-849

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0002-9246

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Economics and Sociology is currently edited by Laurence S. Moss

More articles in American Journal of Economics and Sociology from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().