ABSTRACT
French attitude toward empire fundamentally differed from that of the British, who generally liked to keep their colonies at arm’s length while gradually reducing their overseas spheres of influence by decentralising power and handing out the trump card of self-government – and eventually sovereignty – within the Commonwealth. France, in contrast, would not attempt to rid itself of its important strategic legacy. Within the French system of decolonisation the possibility of dominion status was inconceivable. The doctrine of self-determination as proffered by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was dismissed by a French representative as ‘C’ést simplement absurde’. Instead of ‘some showy federation of the Caribbean’, France chose to assimilate its vieilles colonies into the very bosom of its Constitution, aiming to create close and enduring bonds. 1
