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The purpose of this article is to problematize how a specific set of films is constructed, promoted and valorized as 'cinemas of the Maghreb', via a consideration of the people, the institutions and the interactions that are involved in different geographical and institutional contexts. The analysis contrasts three different geographical, cultural and institutional contexts in which 'cinemas of the Maghreb' become meaningful, as well as the set of common features that underlie the category. Focusing on international co-productions, the circulation of films through commercial exhibition, box-office receipts, film events organized and film scholarship, the article explores the extent to which such a denomination is deeply enmeshed with France, but also how it raises very different issues, involves different agents, and refers to different objects and temporalities in France, Anglo-American academia and the Maghreb itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France is frequently identified as the country whose official development assistance (ODA) aid program is most oriented toward the promotion of its foreign policy goals. We examine whether France reoriented the allocation of its aid in Africa to reflect changing priorities in the 1990s. Using panel data, we compare the patterns in French aid allocation to African recipients during the period 1980-1989 with that during the period 1990-2000. We find that nearly all the same political, economic, diplomatic, and cultural variables that explain French ODA allocation during the Cold War apply in the second period as well, though to a slightly lesser degree. The predictive strength of the prior years' ODA commitments did increase in magnitude, suggesting that bureaucratic inertia increasingly exerts a formidable force in such decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the issues concerning the development of a French policy for Africa. Reformulation of development aid; Use of Africa to promote a positive image for France; Partial collapse of French influence in Francophone Africa; Multilateral management of Africa's political crisis; Framework for good economic governance.

Discusses the relations between France and Africa. Decolonization in French Black Africa; Characteristics of French African policy; Strategic interests of France in Africa.

Argues that there is a classic French geopolitical stance which has conserved a part of its characteristics over centuries and which can be compared to the attitudes of other European states. Significance of the relative positions of different kinds of empire to Western European states; Information on the relationship between France and Africa; Characteristics of the European Union in terms of international relations; Categories of violent conflicts.

This article considers recent changes in France's assistance programme to black Africa. It looks at the historic logic underpinning France's aid policies and structures; examines the latest reforms; and attributes these to the election of a reformist socialist government, a favourable political climate, globalisation and the constraints of EMU. The main obstacle to reform is said to be President Chirac who remains attached to the old logic of French African relations. Ultimately, however, it is not the struggle between modernisers and traditionalists but pressures from France's African and European partners which will determine the future of French aid policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses two books on the relations between France and Africa. 'La Francafrique. Le plus long scandale de la republique,' by F.X. Verschave; 'l'Afrique le fire la France.,' by J.-P. Gourevitch.