French Community

French Community (French La Communauté), association of France and some of its former colonies, created in 1958 by the constitution of the Fifth French Republic. The French Community replaced the French Union, which had been an organization of France and its overseas territories and states. Under the French Community these territories and states became self-governing. The community, however, maintained jurisdiction over foreign and economic policy, defense, currency, higher education, and other matters of common interest. When the African territories gained independence in the late 1960s, the French Community collapsed.