The subject of consideration is the African policy of France during the presidency of Emmanuel Macron (2017-2022). The proclaimed slogans, the official rhetoric of the tenth president of the Fifth Republic, the political practices of the Elysee Palace during this period are reviewed in the context of the geopolitical changes taking place in West Africa. The purpose of the study is to find out the factors that in one way or another have influenced the African policy of Paris in recent years, to determine the obvious motives and latent aspirations of French diplomacy on the African continent. The article deals with very recent events that took place in Tropical Africa, and are therefore relatively little studied both in Russian African studies and in French political science and anthropology. The author comes to the conclusion that the Fifth Republic is rapidly losing its economic, political and military-strategic positions in African countries, which were quite recently a zone of its undeniable influence. He connects this process with the emergence here of new actors in international relations, which allowed Africans to diversify their foreign economic and political orientations.
Keywords:
France, Tropical Africa, Russia, China, geopolitical situation, political crisis, Sahel countries, Operation Barkhane, Emmanuel Macron, African politics, terrorism, Islamists
DOI:
10.31132/2412-5717-2022-58-1-31-48
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