France's Overseas Frontier

This book provides the first ever English-language analysis of France's so-called "confetti of empire," the colonial remnants referred to as "DOM-TOMs"--the départements et territoires d'outre-mer. France shows no signs of relinquishing its remaining overseas outposts which are located from the tropics to the poles--Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Saint Pierre, and Miquelon in the western hemisphere, Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna in the Pacific as well as its claims on Antarctica and several sub-Antarctic islands. France's Overseas Frontier examines the DOM-TOMs in the context of France's colonial history and contemporary politics. It devotes chapters to constitutional change, demographic and economic development, politics, culture and identity, the strategic and geopolitical interests of France in the DOM-TOMs, and the emergence of independence movements in several of the territories.