French neocolonialism in 20th and 21st century: military interventions in Africa

The diploma thesis is focused on French neocolonialism towards its former African colonies. French neocolonialism is analysed from 1960 so called Year of Africa until nowadays. There are two case studies concerning recent French military interventions in Mali and Central Africa. The objective of this diploma thesis is to analyse French foreign approach towards the defined territory on the bases of specialized bibliography and primary resources, and to answer the question asked by the author of this diploma thesis in the Introduction of this piece and to reach the evaluation. The diploma thesis is structured into three parts. In the Introduction, there is a short summary of the topic and there is also the hypothesis stating that the French foreign policy towards its former African colonies shows characteristics of neocolonialism. The first chapter defines the basic terms such as colonialism, decolonisation and foreign policy. There is also a detailed description of terms necolonialism and postcolonialism. The second chapter analyses French actions in sub-Saharan Africa from 1960 till nowadays from the political, economic, cultural and military point of view. A special part of this chapter is a period from 1990 till our days. The third chapter is made of two case studies: military interventions in Mali and Central Africa that shows the neocolonial approach appearing in the French foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa. A part of this chapter is also a synthesis of both interventions. The conclusion of diploma thesis sums up all the knowledge gained thanks to the studying of specialized bibliography and it confirms the hypothesis set in the Introduction of this work.