An Enduring Neocolonial Alliance: A History of the CFA Franc

Abstract

The CFA franc persists because French elites have mostly followed “territorialist logic” and African elites “capitalist logic” for the last six decades. French governments have conceded to capitalist logic, most dramatically in 1994 with the devaluation of the CFA franc and subsequent introduction of the “Balladur Doctrine.” Similarly, West and Central African governments tried to reorient the CFA franc in a more territorialist (developmentalist) direction in the 1970s. Pressure from the IMF, the World Bank, and the French treasury following the sovereign debt crisis of the 1980s pushed most African leaders to accept neoliberal reform—a reassertion of capitalist logic. Advocates of reforming the West African Economic and Monetary Union are currently trying to push the region's monetary policy in a more territorialist direction. The Franco-African neocolonial alliance has, so far, successfully suppressed efforts toward greater political and economic autonomy in Africa. The CFA's peg to the euro will therefore persist as long as this alliance does; until France decides to abandon its sphere of influence in Africa or African leaders seek greater autonomy and/or new allies.