Diplomacy at the end of empire: evolving French perspectives on Portuguese colonialism in the 1950s and 1960s. Issue 4 (2nd October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Byrnes, Melissa K.
• Is Part Of: Cold War history. Volume 19:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 477
• Page End: 491
• Publication Date: 2019-10-02
• Subjects: France -- Portugal -- diplomacy -- decolonisation -- race; Cold War -- Periodicals; World politics -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 940.55
• DOI: 10.1080/14682745.2019.1597857
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-2745

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Diverging French and Portuguese approaches to imperialism complicated French diplomats' assessment of Portugal in the 1960s. As France relinquished the last of its African empire, Portugal fought to maintain its overseas provinces. Examining this relationship reveals the uneven evolution of French attitudes towards Africa. Within the French state, some opposed Portugal's bloody colonial wars, while others believed that Portugal, as the remaining European power in Africa, represented the last best hope for the civilising mission on the continent. Beyond the Cold War dynamics at play, ideologies of race and empire lay at the heart of this relationship.