This Tuesday (11 November 2014), Dr. Anna Konieczna (Sciences Po) will present a paper at the Centre for European and International Studies Research Seminar (5.00-6.30pm, Dennis Sciama Building DS 2.14). Anna graduated from Warsaw University and obtained her PhD from Sciences Po Paris (2013), where she is currently teaching international relations and history. Her research focuses on French foreign policy in Africa after 1960. In this post, Anna gives us a preview of the paper she will present in Portsmouth this week.

Despite constant historiographical progress, historical research works on French foreign policy in Africa in the post-colonial period focus almost exclusively on French interactions with the former Empire, and neglect the spaces in other parts of Africa. This presentation, which is based on my doctoral thesis, aims to partly fill this gap by presenting a history of relations between France and the South African apartheid regime, during the presidencies in France of Charles de Gaulle (1958-1969) and Georges Pompidou (1969-1974). Drawing on various French and South African archival sources, this presentation will show the motivations and the evolution of the unexpected rapprochement between what was, until then, two distant States. This convergence of interests was fostered by two interlocking elements: the policy of independence followed by both governments and the political evolution of the African continent in the aftermath of the decolonisation. It resulted in close co-operation in the military and strategic fields. This presentation will also place the story back in the broader context of French African policy, both within and beyond the former French Empire, to show the complexity and limits of the French involvement in this internationally disapproved minority regime.

Tea, coffee and cake will be served from 5pm in Dennis Sciama Building DS 2.14, with Anna’s paper beginning at about 5.15pm. All are welcome to attend.