Colonial nostalgia in France fostered by political power

Colonial nostalgia in France is fostered by politicians who "exploit history" for their own political ends, French historian Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison said. Met at the International Book Fair of Algiers (SILA), which is to wrap up on Friday, while he was signing his latest book "La République impériale-Politique et racisme d'Etat" (Imperial Republic-Politics and State Racism) (Fayard, 2009), Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison, professor in political sciences at the University of Evry-Val d'Essonne in Paris, pointed out that France "can today come to terms with its colonial past," but, according to him, the main obstacle lies in the fact that "the political power is exploiting history for election campaign purposes."