Algeria and France: Beyond the Franco-Algerian Lens

Abstract

Vince challenges the oft-repeated idea that Franco-Algerian relations were ‘exceptional’ both during the period of colonial rule and after independence. Although Algeria held a distinct place within the French empire (considered three départements of France and with a large settler population), there were many connections and parallels between Algeria and other parts of the French empire—in terms of people, colonial ideas and policies, the experiences and activism of colonized peoples and intertwined chains of events. In the post-independence period, a confrontational rhetoric between the two countries has masked pragmatic collaboration. Franco-Algerian ‘memory wars’ are often more Franco-French and Algero-Algerian than they initially seem. Moreover, rather than being locked in a suffocating embrace, Franco-Algerian relations have always existed and functioned in broader global contexts.