Amid worsening tension between Paris and Algiers, former French ambassador to Algeria Xavier Driencourt offers a sharp critique of France’s long-standing diplomatic posture toward Algeria in his new book France–Algérie: le double aveuglement (“France–Algeria: The Double Blindness”).
The book refers on the one hand to France’s blindness to the true nature of the Algerian regime, its authoritarianism, internal fragility, and manipulation of historical grievances.
On the other hand, it explains facets of France’s internal blindness, particularly its failure to recognize how Algerian networks and diaspora politics influence French domestic affairs, especially around immigration and identity.
Driencourt criticizes France’s Algeria policy as being reduced to two narrow issues: colonial memory and visa quotas, both of which Algeria uses to exert pressure on Paris.