"France Against Herself"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the above book and assesses the arguments of the author on some of the issues then dominating French colonial policy. It looks at how the French colonial policy 1945-46 was irresponsible in that it made promises and raised expectations among colonial peoples that were impractical based on liberal ideologies rather than on real world facts. It analyzes how the French colonial policy in North Africa was totally unrealistic and impossible to hold on to and how with the barrier of religious belief, Arab Muslims could never become Frenchmen.

From the Paper:

"Ultimately, what France wanted from her various colonies was that they simply become French in their thinking, their attitude, and their loyalties. "What France expected from 'greater France' was the production of Frenchmen; French citizens in the future, but here and now French soldiers" (Leuthy 216). Thus, the policy of 1945-46 did not address the possibilities of disenfranchisement of the colonies; rather it stated that these colonies would not desire or need disenfranchisement. However, this was both unrealistic and mistimed. After the Second World War, the policy of colonization was generally recognized as pass, but the French could not seem to give up their dreams of united Frenchman located around the globe."

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• Persuasive Essay # 129584 : "Mitterrand and France's Centrist Policy"

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