France and The Commonwealth of Nations - Francophonie

Francophonie

The Francophonie, which was founded to promote the French language and French culture, as well as pooled scientific research, is often considered France's equivalent of the Commonwealth of Nations. However, its structure and institutions, whilst superficially being similar to the Commonwealth, are more similar to the United Nations, in relying upon majority voting, rather than consensus, as the Commonwealth does.

The Francophonie also adopts a very different philosophy to the Commonwealth, particularly due to its lacking institutional ties to NGOs its equivalent of the Commonwealth Foundation or Commonwealth Family. Nonetheless, the Francophonie spends ten times as much money per inhabitant as the Commonwealth (€0.30 cf. €0.03), reflecting France's dedication to promoting Francophonie relations compared to British 'embarrassment' by the Commonwealth.

Eight countries are full members of both the Francophonie and the Commonwealth (Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Mauritius, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, and Vanuatu), whilst Commonwealth members Cyprus and Ghana are associate members of the Francophonie, and Mozambique is an observer. In the wake of the genocide there, Francophonie member Rwanda has made recent moves away from France's sphere of influence, has replaced French with English as an official language, and joined the Commonwealth at the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Before the Francophonie, since the foundation and expansion of the Commonwealth, France has created a number of political and cultural unions that have attempted to simulate its model amongst France's former colonial possessions and French-speaking countries. The French Union was created in 1946 and was succeeded by the short-lived French Community in 1958, which folded when its members gained independence.