Amiri, Linda <br/><br/>
Neighborhoods in Decolonization Conflicts: The Case of Switzerland in the Algerian War of Independence 

 -  2010.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> From the very first months of the Algerian war of independence, the FLN (National Liberation Front), tried to bring its cause on the international scene in order to escape political isolation and to alleviate the weaksness of its military apparatus. Thanks to the support of 14 afro-asian countries, it obtained its first success in 1955. 1955 was indeed the year of the question of Algeria in the agenda of the UN 10th session. In the mean time, it set up the French Federation of the FLN. Its mission was to control the immigration, to collect “the revolutionary tax”, to export the war to France and to use propaganda to influence public opinion. After September 1958, the action of the Federation was coupled with the action of the foreign office (MAE) of the provisional government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA). Its mission was to convince governments of the legimity of its cause. In such a context, the main concern of France neighbouring countries was to limit the extension of the conflict on their territory as well as to preserve their political independence. Switzerland struggled to make belligerents understand the basis of its foreign policy because it was at the heart of the diplomatic strategy of the GPRA and because it welcomed a very politicized Algerian immigration. By moving the focus of the study of the French Federation of the FLN from metropolitan France to Switzerland, the European dimension of the Algerian war shows all its complexity.