“A nation is great not by its size alone, but by the justice it upholds and the ideals it serves”— Jean Juares
There is a tendency in contemporary African discourse to reduce France to a set of political quarrels, historical grievances, and present-day misalignments. In the heated rhetoric of the Sahel, France is spoken of only as a fading power, a resented former colonial authority, or a scapegoat for domestic failures. This framing, while emotionally potent and simplistic, is intellectually shallow. It overlooks something far deeper, older, and more enduring: France as a civilisation. Long before the modern state system emerged, France had established itself as one of the great cultural, intellectual and aesthetic centres of the world. Its influence has been woven into global consciousness for centuries through language, philosophy, science, literature, art, architecture, drama, eloquence, cuisine, fashion and ideas.
Empires have fallen, borders have shifted, governments have risen and dissolved but French civilisation continues to radiate quietly across continents. For Nigerians accustomed to analysing France through the prism of geopolitics or post-colonial memory, it is essential to recognise this other France, the France of thought, beauty, sophistication, science and culture. Understanding this dimension is not a matter of flattery or acquiescence; it is a requirement for engaging the modern world with confidence and nuance. Take language as a barometer of civilisation for instance. The French language has remained a global vessel of science, culture, art, literature, music and diplomacy.
Today, French is more than a language; it is a global ecosystem. Spoken by over 300 million people across five continents, French remains one of the principal working languages of diplomacy, science, international institutions and global commerce. The African Union, the United Nations, ECOWAS, the International Olympic Committee, and a vast range of academic and scientific bodies function partly through the medium of French. The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, OIF, which brings together more than 80 states and governments, is not merely a cultural club. It is a political and intellectual network that reaches into Africa more deeply than any other linguistic community except perhaps English and Arabic. Even in countries where anti-French sentiment is rising, French remains the language of law courts, universities, media, literature, intellectual life and elite discourse.
For Nigeria, bordered by French-speaking nations and interacting with francophone institutions daily, understanding French civilisation is more than cultural appreciation. It is a practical geopolitical necessity that must be understood and appreciated in both official and private circles. No opportunity should therefore be left unexploited for Nigeria to benefit from this intellectual heritage and treasury of ideas that the French language offers. France’s greatest export has arguably been ideas. From the Enlightenment to existentialism; from classical philosophy to modern critical theory; from Montesquieu’s separation of powers to Rousseau’s social contract; from Descartes’ rationalism to Foucault’s questioning of power, French thought has shaped the intellectual architecture of the modern world.
No contemporary African political, sociological or philosophical discourse is complete without engagement with French thinkers. The intellectual traditions of African elites, from Léopold Senghor to Aimé Césaire, from Frantz Fanon to Cheikh Anta Diop, and the West Indian and Caribbean thinkers as well, were formed in conversation with, and sometimes in opposition to, French schools of thought. Even the radical movements that resisted colonialism drew heavily from French intellectual traditions. Fanon’s revolutionary prism, still influential across Africa, is inseparable from the French philosophical landscape in which he was trained. Nigerian scholars, artists, jurists and diplomats have interacted with French ideas for decades, consciously or otherwise. To ignore France’s intellectual depth is to misunderstand the genealogy of modern African thought itself.
In art, literature, cinema, and other cultural areas, the aesthetic influences of French culture are undeniable. Paris, that venerable ancient city, has long been the cultural capital of the world. The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Rodin Museum, the Pantheon, the Academie Francaise and the great artistic academies remain global centres of inspiration, creativity and scholarship. France has cultivated an extraordinary artistic tradition that encompasses architecture, painting, sculpture, theatre, musical and literary excellence. French literature ranging from Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Honore de Balzac, Jules Verne, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, and Stendhal to Albert Camus, Duras and Jean-Paul Sartre, has shaped world literature and influenced African writers profoundly. The modern African novel, including Francophone masterpieces from Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and the Congo, emerged in part from French literary traditions.
French cinema(where the motion picture originated thanks to the Lumiere brothers), sustained by strong state support and cultural policy, remains one of the few global industries capable of resisting the dominance of Hollywood. The Cannes Film Festival is not just a celebration of cinema; it is the world’s premier arena of cultural diplomacy, where soft power is negotiated and displayed. These artistic and intellectual ecosystems have shaped global aesthetics, standards, and cultural norms, including in Nigeria, where literature and film have been quietly and unconsciously influenced by French methods in storytelling, theory and criticism. France has also left an indelible mark on the world’s artistic scene. Its artists are famous for their productions, whether in painting, sculptures or the plastic arts. Jacques Louis David, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Theodore Gericault, Auguste Rodin and several others readily come to mind.
Refinement and taste are another feature of French contribution to the world. France’s most visibly globalised influence is found in cuisine and fashion. French culinary techniques form the foundation of modern gastronomy worldwide.
The terminology of cooking such as sauté, roux, consommé, pâté, condiment, etc, is largely French. From bakeries to fine dining, from patisserie to wine culture, France has set the global benchmarks of excellence. In fashion, Paris remains the undisputed world’s capital. French luxury houses such as Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Givenchy, Saint Laurent etc, dominate global markets and define contemporary elegance. The global luxury economy, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, is essentially a French-created and French-led phenomenon.
These industries are not mere embellishments. They represent soft power in the truest sense of the term, as well as brand equity, cultural identity and economic strength. For Nigeria, aspiring to build its own cultural industries, France provides both a model and a partner to emulate. French influence does not end in the vistas of domestic felicity or the idle trappings of luxury. France is also a scientific and technological power of the first order. Its contributions to medicine, physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology are extensive. The Institut Pasteur remains one of the world’s foremost centres of microbiological and epidemiological research. French scientists have been at the forefront of discoveries in vaccines, neuroscience, genetic research and public health.
In space exploration, France anchors Europe’s capabilities. The French space agency CNES and the Ariane programme provide the launch capacity on which the European Space Agency depends. From astrophysics to satellite engineering, France is at the centre of Europe’s technical expertise. France is one of the leading nations in the field of particle physics, with active participation in the European scientific initiative known as CERN that is located right on its border with Switzerland. This dimension of French power is often invisible in African discourse, yet it has practical significance. Nigeria’s satellite ambitions, aviation development, climate monitoring and telecommunications infrastructure etc, all intersect with French technological domains.
Unlike many other countries, France is a living and continuous civilisational project. What binds all the elements of its accomplishments in language, ideas, arts, cuisine, fashion, science etc, is the concept of France as a civilisational state. France sees itself not merely as a political entity but as a guardian of universal values, humanism, reason, secularism, democracy, human rights and cultural refinement. This identity shapes its diplomacy, cultural outreach and global posture. Even when its political influence wanes, the cultural and intellectual magnetism of France endures. Governments may change, tensions may rise, but French civilisation remains an enduring presence in world affairs.
Nigeria engages France every time our students have the opportunity to study abroad in French-speaking countries, our writers participate in literary exchanges, our artists exhibit in Paris, our sport teams perform on the global arena, our diplomats negotiate in French-speaking forums, and our scientists collaborate with European research networks. To understand France merely as a geopolitical actor is to see only one layer of a much deeper reality. France’s civilisational influence continues to permeate global culture, thought and science in ways that cannot be measured by troop deployments or diplomatic disputes. For Nigeria, an aspiring regional and continental power, the intelligent engagement with France requires an appreciation of this civilisational depth. Politics may ebb and flow, but culture, language, ideas and knowledge endure. It is within this realm that France’s true power lies and where Nigeria can find connections and opportunities for partnership, enrichment and mutual advancement.
The post France Beyond Politics: The Civilisation that Continues to Shape the World, by Usman Sarki appeared first on Vanguard News.
