S A L I M H A M I DA N I

Laboratory of Environmental Legal Studies, University of 8 May 1945, Guelma, Algeria

Colonial Legacy in Algerian–French Relations

ABSTRACT The colonial period in Algeria was a time of suffering and struggle for Algerians
who fought to win back their freedom and defend their values against French attempts to
subjugate them. It was also a struggle to end foreign control over the country’s wealth and
resources. National independence sought a sovereign state with free decision-making, away
from French influence in particular, in a context of ideological polarization and mutual
hostility between ex-colonial forces and independent states. The root of such hostility lies
in what both parties lost, and resulted in a distinctive pattern of French–Algerian bilateral
relations tainted by nostalgia from the French side and the struggle for parity from the
Algerian side. The three decades following Algeria’s independence witnessed, to a certain
extent, a national sentiment opposed to colonial France, and it is the sentiment that Algerian
politicians attempted to use to manage relations between the two countries and obtain
some benefits by invoking the past in speeches at a local level, and to overcome that
past in building relations with France. As a security crisis and economic decline hit
Algeria, it became apparent that the French regime was to exert effective influence on
the country and control its foreign policy to meet French aspirations and ambitions in
both Africa and the Arab world. This conclusion suggested to several observers the fall of
the Algerian elite, responsible for decision-making, under French influence. Moreover, this
elite group, while dealing with several regional issues, was not able to assert complete
independence in its decision-making regarding foreign affairs, whether due to its past and
formation or to the network of new relations built between the Algerian and French systems.
This reality, which is deeply rooted in the Algerian foreign policy system, raises the question
of the ability of the Algerian elite to pull away from its colonial inheritance and the grip of the
French regime. One might therefore wonder how historical events and Algerian solid ties
with the French administration shape French–Algerian relations and their political
agendas. KEYWORDS Algeria, French colonization, Algeria–French relations, Algerian
foreign policy, Algerian government

Contemporary Arab Affairs, Vol. 13, Number 1, pp. 69–85. ISSN: 1755-0912, Electronic ISSN:
1755-0920 © 2020 by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies. All rights reserved. Please direct all
requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of
California Press’s Reprints and Permissions web page, https://www.ucpress.edu/journals/reprints-
permissions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2020.13.1.69

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