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Chapter 9 - The DOM-TOMs and the Wider World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2009

Robert Aldrich  and
John Connell
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Summary

A MAJOR REASON for acquiring overseas possessions in the colonial period, in addition to the raw materials and markets they were seen to provide, was to establish bases at strategic points on the globe from which to further a nation's interests. This early role has endured into the contemporary world of the DOM-TOMs, which provide an international presence for France in all the oceans of the world and bases for a variety of French activities. The DOM-TOMs are ‘a valuable base for monitoring these regions which gives France an exceptional capacity for involvement there’. Because of the DOM-TOMs,

France's frontiers are not those of the hexagone but its independence begins in Noumea, Fort-de-France, Saint-Denis, Kourou and Mururoa. This French presence … gives our nation a global dimension and necessitates a political strategy that is world-wide.

For Senator Paul Moreau of Réunion,

they ensure that France has a more than symbolic presence in every region of the world and particularly in the most strategic ocean areas. Economically they allow it to have a commercial presence in various parts of the world. They also ensure France a political presence and the perpetuity of Francophonie.

Type
Chapter
Information
France's Overseas Frontier
Départements et territoires d'outre-mer
 , pp. 251 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

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