The Problem of Implementing the Francophone Policy in the Field of Education in the Countries of Asia and Africa (1958-1969)

Abstract

The article discusses the issues related to the implementation of the Francophone policy in African and Asian countries. The author examines France's methods of cooperating with its former colonies; which countries received more attention; why specifically education played an important role in the implementation of the Francophone policy, and how did the financial support for this field change during the presidency of Charles de Gaulle. In the presented work, the policy of Francophonie is understood as the totality of France’s actions towards creating privileged political and economic ties with foreign states through the means of the French language and culture.In accordance with the latest methodological developments, foreign cultural policy is viewed as a group of measures developed and implemented by a state on an external level in order to promote national culture and language. The perception of the problems of foreign cultural policy was significantly influenced by the concept of "soft power" elaborated by political scientist J. Naya. This study applied several research methods: the system analysis method and the comparative analysis method. Topics related to the political implementation of Francophonie are little studied in Russian historiography. The article uses documents from the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously unfamiliar to the general public. The implementation of the Francophone policy in the countries of Asia and Africa in 1958-1969 resulted in the extensive cultural, economic and political cooperation between France and its former colonies. Despite the numerous successes in implementing the Francophone policy, by 1969, the government of the Fifth Republic had failed to restore the French cultural influence on the territories that had gained independence from France in a non-peaceful way.