Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Colonies & Colonization, emigration & immigration, Contemporary History, Cultural memory, International Relations, Political Institutions, Socialism, Communism, Anarchism

Regions:

Africa, United Kingdom

Summary of research interests and expertise:

 My research focuses on British foreign policy and diplomacy since 1945 and on the history of the contemporary Commonwealth of Nations, with a particular interest in Franco-British relations in Africa and links between the Commonwealth and the Francophonie. My work also investigates competing definitions and practices of democracy, development aid and the promotion of South-South exchanges in international relations. More recently, I have been working on the international relations of the British Labour Party and non-governmental groups in Britain, the evolution of policy-making in government departments and the influence of civil society groups on the redefinition of British identity and British power in the long end of empire.

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
02-Jun-2021	Algerian independence and the end of empires: the liberation of Africa and the British Left Monographs
05-Oct-2020	L’exception archivistique à l’épreuve des sources : transitions diplomatiques et pratiques archivistiques dans les fins d’empire français et britannique en Afrique Articles Revue française de civilisation britannique (special issue on exceptionalism), vol. 25, n°4, 2020
10-Aug-2020	Globalizing Suez: Commonwealth diplomacy and the war of Algerian independence (1955-1957) Chapters in Saul Dubow and Richard Drayton (ed), The Commonwealth Effect, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series), 2020
02-Mar-2020	Le Brexit au prisme du Commonwealth : vers une perte d’influence britannique ? Recherches internationales, n°117, janvier-mars 2020
22-Mar-2019	Ecrire l'histoire du Commonwealth des Nations: relations internationales et dialogues disciplinaires Articles
10-Feb-2019	Les circulations militantes entre Paris et Londres: antiracisme et anti-apartheid » Articles Hommes et Migrations, n°1325
22-Apr-2018	Cameroon : a political challenge for the Commonwealth
01-Sep-2017	Commonwealth(s) projetés, comparés, transformés : conservatismes et conservateurs à l’heure des indépendances africaines Chapters in Clarisse Berthezène, Jean-Christian Vinel (ed), Conservatismes en mouvement. Conservateurs et conservatismes au XXème siècle, une approche transnationale, Paris, Editions de l’EHESS, 2016.
01-May-2017	‘Chasse gardée au Cameroun?’ Le Secrétariat général des Affaires africaines et malgaches et la gestion des sphères d’influence française et britannique en Afrique de l’Ouest Chapters in Olivier Forcade, Jean-Pierre Bat (ed), Jacques Foccart : la politique, l’Afrique et le monde, Paris, Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne
01-May-2017	Le Commonwealth et l’influence britannique dans le monde : risques et défis d’un Brexit Journal articles  Outre Terre, Revue française de géopolitique
01-Sep-2016	‘But always as friends’ : British cultural diplomacy, decolonisation and the Cold War in West Africa (1957-1964) Chapters in Laurent Dornel, Michael Parsons (ed), Fins d’empire, Pau, Presses de l’Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, 2016, 93-118.
10-Nov-2015	A ‘New’ Commonwealth for Britain? Negotiating Ghana’s Pan-African and Asian Connections at the End of Empire (1951-1958) Journal articles   The International History Review, published online 10 November 2015 [forthcoming in print].
01-Sep-2015	Cameroon’s Membership of the Commonwealth: Why it Matters Articles  Border Crossing / Diplomat Magazine, 1: 8, septembre 2015, 14-16.
01-Aug-2015	The Commonwealth and the European Union: norms, partnerships, circulations Edited Book  Special Issue of The Round Table, The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 104 : 4, 2015. Edited with Virginie Roiron.
01-Dec-2013	“Whitehall, the French Community and the Year of Africa: Negotiating post-independence diplomacy in West Africa” Chapters  Tony Chafer and Alex Keese (eds.), Francophone Africa at Fifty, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2013, 155-170.
01-Nov-2013	“Les deuils de l’indépendance: le Cameroun face à sa réunification” Chapters  in Odile Goerg, Jean- Luc Martineau, Didier Nativel (eds.), Les indépendances en Afrique. L’évènement et ses mémoires 1957/60-2010, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2013, 327-343.
01-Oct-2013	“La Sierra Leone dans les indépendances africaines: stratégies politiques et enjeux identitaires (1956-1961)” in Michel Prum (ed.), Comparer les diversités, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2013, 131-150. Chapters  in Michel Prum (ed.), Comparer les diversités, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2013, 131-150.
01-Jun-2013	La politique étrangère britannique en Afrique depuis 1957: acteurs, principes, pratiques Edited Book  Special issue of the Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique / French Journal of British Studies
01-Feb-2013	Deceptive ends of empire? British policy-makers and the assessment of the French approach to decolonisation in sub-Saharan Africa (1956-1965) Articles  Cercles, 28, 2013
01-Dec-2012	British Decolonisation: the Politics of Power, Liberation and Influence Monographs  Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2012
01-Mar-2012	Diplomacy and Nation-building in Africa: Franco-British Relations and Cameroon at the End of Empire Monographs  London, I.B. Tauris, 2012
01-Jan-2011	L'Empire britannique en héritage: esclavage, abolition, discrimination et commémoration de l'Amérique du Nord à L'Australie Edited Book
	Le Commonwealth des Nations en mutation: décolonisations, globalisation, gouvernance Edited Book  Co-edited with Virginie Roiron, Special Issue of the Cahiers Charles V, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, 2013

Research Projects & Supervisions

Research projects:

Details

Reinventions of Britain at the end of empires: national identities, transnational solidarities and international practices during the Algerian War This project examines how the war of Algerian independence, which intersected with liberation wars in other colonial empires, including Britain’s, challenged notions of British power and British practices of transnational solidarities (radical and conservative), whilst contributing to the globalisation of London as a diplomatic hub. From British political writing and publishing to the imprint of colonial wars on urban sites and cultures, research activities will reassess the influence of the (North) African, Arab and Muslim worlds, producing new maps (mental and digital) of the making of post-colonial Britain.

Current PhD topics supervised:

Dates	Details
From: 01-Oct-2020 Until:	Transchannel projects in Anglo-European dynamics: mediating and territorialising cultural (para-) diplomacies and policies Elias Msaddek, co-funded Phd with the Région Hauts de France
From: 01-Oct-2019 Until:	Anglo-Moroccan relations since 2010: redefining and redeploying British influence south of the Mediterranean ive sud de la Méditerranée Amal El Founti (PhD started 2019)

Past PhD topics supervised:

Dates	Details
From: 01-Oct-2017 Until: 27-Nov-2020	The British Council in Burma after independence: linguistic policy and cultural diplomacy Lauriane Simony, co-supervised with Prof. Pauline Schnapper (Sorbonne-Nouvelle)

Available for doctoral supervision: Yes

Relevant Events

Related events:

Date	Details
21-Nov-2019	Socialist networks and the remaking of European international policy after 1945: power, solidarity and normative regimes in transnational perspective Two-day conference at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, organized jointly with Andrew Williams (University of St Andrews), with the support of Université Picardie Jules Verne and the Institut universitaire de France
14-Nov-2019	The African Commonwealth: perceptions, realities and limits Two-day conference organized jointly by Université Picardie Jules Verne and IEP/Université de Strasbourg
14-Sep-2019	The UK Committee for Algerian Refugees and the politics of transnational peace Paper presented at the conference "NGOs in Africa in the 1960s" at the Institute of Historical Research
13-Jun-2019	Journals as bridge-builders? Panel co-organised with Janet Remmington (York / Taylor and Francis) at the European Conference on African Studies in Edinburgh
08-Jun-2019	L’exception à l’épreuve des sources : pratiques archivistiques dans les fins d’empires et relations franco-britanniques
07-Jun-2019	Interdisciplinary perspectives on "Anglophone studies"
16-Mar-2019	Le Brexit vu par le Commonwealth des Nations: vers une perte d'influence britannique?
21-Jun-2018	Cameroon and the decolonization of diplomacy: African perspectives on international relations
07-Feb-2018	Building a safer world? The Commonwealth approach in comparative perspective
31-Dec-2015	A Commonwealth Approach to Development? Theory, Practice and Outcomes  One-day workshop, organized with SAGE (UMR 7363), Université Paris Diderot
09-Jul-2015	“Acting on the margins: professional associations and the construction of alternative politics in Africa after empires”  Panel 33, ECAS 6 (2015), Paris, France; organized with Richard Bourne, Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
10-May-2015	L'Atelier du pouvoir, France Culture  Speaker on royals visits, during the programme on presidential and royal visits.
15-Feb-2013	Des partages coloniaux aux frontières culturelles: espace politique et stratégies identitaires au Cameroun méridional (1954-1961)  One-day conference, "Cultures coloniales et postcoloniales et la décolonisation", Université de Tours
25-Jan-2013	Negocier l'appartenance au Commonwealth en Afrique de l'Ouest dans les années 1950 et 1960  One-day conference, "Penser l'anti-impérialisme, militer pour la décolonisation", Université de Lille
17-Jan-2013	The Commonwealth in the World: Resistance, Governance and Change  Mark Weston, The Ringtone and the Drum: West Africa on the Edge, Institute of Commonwealth Studies
11-Jan-2013	Empire overcome? British decolonisation and the contest for new world orders  One-day conference held at Paris Diderot
15-Dec-2012	Deceptive ends of empire? British policy-makers and the assessment of the French approach to decolonisation in sub-Saharan Africa (1956-1965)  Université de Strasbourg, One-day conference on the end of the British empire
19-Oct-2012	The Commonwealth in the World: Resistance, Governance and Change  Leslie James (LSE), on George Padmore, and Philip Murphy (ICWS) on intelligence and decolonisation, held at Université Paris Diderot

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