At the end of the 1960s, the United States supported, contrary to all expectations, the creation of the Agence de coopération culturelle et technique (ACCT), the precursor to the International Organization of La Francophonie and the first intergovernmental organization of the French speaking world, created to respond to African issues.

The goal of the Americans in the middle of the cold war was to anchor French speaking African countries in the western camp, then to assure itself unlimited access to the material resources of the "dark continent". This obligated the Americans to put aside their economic and political rivalry with France, cooperating in French strategies with regards to Africa.

In projecting onto this new francophone institution a geopolitical image, Washington displayed a visionary attitude. This book offers a new look at the emergence of the Francophonie in taking it beyond the France-Africa-Canada context. The Francophonie is no longer an extended regional organization, but an internationally-focused assembly in a new era of global detente.

Marine Lefèvre holds doctorates in history from both the Université Paris-IV-Sorbonne and the University of Montreal. An expert in international relations, she focuses on issues tied to the international Francophonie and to Canadian francophonies, as well as to cross-Atlantic relations and North-South problematics. She teaches at St. Clair College in Windsor, Canada.