« Une République s'étendant sur plusieurs continents » : le projet non advenu du Comité d'action pour une République fédérale française de 1957

Abstract

Abstract:In reaction to the imperial fragmentation and particularly to Algerian demands, various solutions were considered in 1950s metropolitan France. The project published in 1957 by the Comité d'action pour une République fédérale française stood out: it proposed a new constitution that would extend the Republic to a federal entity comprising the metropole, the colonies, as well as territories and departments of the "outre-mer." Supported by a notable federalist organization, this "Republic extending to multiple continents" sought to maintain imperial dynamics despite progressive claims. Through the analysis of this project that never occurred, I state that the imperial crisis led some French to conceptualize the Republic outside of its traditional nation-state boundaries. The imagined French federal republic included many territories and people, a vision that can only be understood through an extended conceptual frame detached from the national paradigm.