Presentations by Gordon Cumming, 2024-2025 Paris IAS Fellow, as part of a training session organized by the Diplomatic and Consular Academy of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Gordon Cumming was invited to give a paper to around sixty French and British diplomats as part of a major training event organised by the Diplomatic and Consular Academy within the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Following on from talks by the Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry, the British Ambassador to France and France’s Director for the Americas, Gordon’s presentation on 12 November was entitled ‘French and British foreign and development policies towards Africa: time to (re) join forces?’ It outlined the history of Anglo-French rivalry in Africa, the high point of Franco-British cooperation following the 1998 Saint Malo II agreement and the more difficult relationship in the years following Brexit. It concluded that the re-election of Donald Trump, coupled with the current challenges facing Olaf Scholz’s government in Germany, may present a new opportunity for enhanced bilateral or bi-multilateral collaboration between France and the UK, at least in Africa.
On 13-14 November, Gordon accompanied around half of the corps of French and British diplomats on a field trip to Marseilles. This allowed for a valuable exchange of ideas with the AFD’s local campus on new approaches towards, and discourses around, development. It also offered fresh insights into the linkages between science and international development, with a particular focus on the work of the French Institute of Research and Development.