French Community

French Community, a largely inactive association of France and some of the independent countries that were formerly its possessions. Its purpose was to promote cooperation in economic and commercial matters. The relationships established by the Community conflicted with Asian and African concepts of nationalism, however, and the organization has ceased to exist in all but name.

The French Community was created by the constitution of France's Fifth Republic (1958), replacing the French Union, a federation of France and its colonies dating to 1946. The Community was reorganized in 1960, when all members with internal self-rule were granted complete independence. Following the withdrawal of many countries in the early 1960's, the association became inactive.