Despite efforts to normalize its post-colonial relationship and a considerable downsizing of its permanent military presence, France remains a sought-after security provider in Africa. This book uncovers individual and collective motivations that drive French foreign and security policy in Africa. It explains French interventionism by drawing on actors’ subjective perceptions of reality and seeks to answer why French decision-makers are ready to accept the considerable risks and costs involved in guaranteeing or re-establishing the security of African countries. Adopting an actor-centric constructivist ontology, the author not only identifies ideas as core explanatory variables but also traces their emergence and subsequent development throughout the decision-making processes that led to Operation Serval in Mali and Operation Sangaris in the Central African Republic.weiterlesen