From Unilateralism to Substantive Multilateralism——An analysis of the strategic evolution of Fance's military operations in Africa
After the Cold War,France's multilateralization of its security strategy in Africa has been an incomplete multilateraliza-tion.In the military operations led by France in Sub-Saharan Africa after the 1990s,France only briefly shared the authority of com-mand and decision-making with other countries on a limited number of occasions.The legitimacy logic,cost-benefit logic,and pow-er logic all jointly influence the extent of multilateralization in France's security strategy in Africa.In order to maintain its preponder-ance over French-speaking Africa,and to avoid the time-consuming process of consensus building and policy coordination required by full multilateralism,France would opt for nominal multilateralism,which means obtaining the authorization of international organiza-tions but implementing the military operation alone,on the condition that the host country explicitly supports French intervention and France perceives the threat to be short-term.With the surge of anti-French sentiments and the change of French perception of threats in Sahel,Macron Government reverted to substantive multilateral strategy,trying to maintain its military presence in French-speaking Africa by sharing command and decision-making power with other countries.However,due to the obvious anti-French and pro-Russian trend in Central and West Africa today,the reluctance of European countries to follow France's security strategy in Africa and the entrance of other major powers into the competition for military aid to Africa,the effectiveness of strategic adjustments made by Ma-cron-administration has proven to be quite limited.
unilateralismnominal multilateralismsubstantive multilateralismFrench military operations in AfricaSub-Saharan Africa
万方数据
维普
