FRENCH COMMUNITY

French La Communaut, association of states created in 1958 by the constitution of the Fifth French Republic to replace the French Union (itself the successor of the former French colonial empire) in dealing with matters of foreign policy, defense, currency and economic policy, and higher education. By the late 1970s the association was defunct. Although the relevant articles of the constitution were not abrogated, they were no longer applied, and the Community fell into oblivion.