The spirit of claim making

fragility

diversity and contingency have been so intrinsic to the French projection of power overseas that they undermine any notion of a singular ‘project’ or even of a distinctive experience

there is very little empirical basis for such a characterization in the French case

Frederick Cooper has underlined the strength of the federalist idea, which had many supporters both among West Africans and French administrators

o

The compelling need to avoid any appearance of racism, to discard any association with the language and attitudes of imperialism, and to bring about the political and economic integration of non-Communist Asia increasingly informed American diplomatic rhetoric after 1945.

assertions of western power since the collapse of colonial rule are as likely to have been multi-lateral as bi-lateral.