France's Relationship with Subsaharan Africa

France granted independence to its former colonies in West and Central Africa in the early 1960s. Nevertheless, thanks to a network of formal and informal agreements with these countries, France continues to wield considerable power and influence over them politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Through the various successive governments of the French Fifth Republic, the African policy of France has been exceptionally constant and stable. This study analyzes how the persistent situation of dominance/dependency and the continuity in foreign policy developed. Important changes that have developed recently in the relationship are analyzed, and suggestions for the future are given.