Title:
“Develop”, at what price? From Colonialism to Developmentalism: Discursive breaks and post-colonial continuities in the discourses of Truman, Sarkozy and Macron on francophone West Africa

Authors:
KONE Koko Siaka, Cote d'Ivoire

Abstract:

This article analyzes the relationship between colonialism, developmentalism and post-colonialism from the speeches of Truman in 1949, Sarkozy in Dakar in 2007, Macron in Ouagadougou in 2017 and the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi in 2026. Based on a critical analysis of discourse, it shows that the Western language on African development evolves from technical assistance to partnership and then to strategic co-investment, without removing power asymmetries. Truman establishes a hierarchy between developed countries and underdeveloped regions; Sarkozy acknowledges colonial fault while making Africa accountable; Macron shifts the discourse to cooperation, local transformation and shared sovereignty. However, Europe remains central in financing, expertise, technology and priority setting. The article argues that the break with the colonial order presupposes an effective African sovereignty of development, based on productive transformation, technological and cognitive mastery, financial capacity, regional integration and the production of African categories of progress. The Nairobi guidelines will become emancipatory only if co-investment is reintegrated into an endogenous development logic, open to partnerships but centered on the accumulation of African capacities.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2026.10603