Globalising The French Language: Neo-Colonialism Or Development?

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the attempt to globalize the French language in contemporary world politics, in view of competing value systems from other key languages of the international society. It attempts to contextualize the philosophical trajectory of globalization which sees globalization as the homogenization of ideas, images and institutions with a view to creating a ‘global culture’ of norms and values acceptable among certain regional blocks. It draws its intellectual support from the French policy of assimilation which informed their colonial method during the era of balkanization of Africa, Asia, and the rest of the Third World. It adopts a critical conversational method which involves literature review, histo-empirical analysis, critical conceptual clarification and analysis, within the purview of intellectual interrogation. Findings show that the policy of assimilation adopted by the French as a fundamental colonial policy created a tension between fragmentation and integration, which still resonates in contemporary literature on neo-colonialism, albeit its developmental paradigm. The paper recommends the dissolution of this tension and reconciliation of the pragmatics of globalization as critical panacea for greater global and regional cooperation.

Keywords: Globalization, French Language, Neo-colonialism and Development.