France’s Shift on Western Sahara Comes With a Huge Cost

France’s Shift on Western Sahara Comes With a Huge Cost
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Moroccan King Mohammed VI to Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, April 10, 2018 (Sipa photo by Eliot Blondet via AP Images).

On July 31, with little fanfare or attention, France formally recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, abandoning its decades-long support for the United Nations-mandated referendum process to determine the territory’s final governance status. Long seen as the West’s diplomatic leader on the Western Sahara conflict, France is the most important country to fully throw its weight behind Morocco’s unlawful, unilateral annexation of the territory.

But it is hardly the first to do so. Israel did the same in 2023, and Spain shifted its stance on the conflict to align itself more closely with Morocco’s position the year before. But it was the United States under then-President Donald Trump that opened the floodgates in 2020, recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat’s normalization of relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords.

This formal recognition of Morocco’s de facto sovereignty over the territory—a massive swath of mainly desert that is home to a mere 600,000 inhabitants—may not at first glance appear to have global ramifications. But it will indeed have reverberations around the world, eroding the rule of international law that prohibits the acquisition of territory by force as well as the recognition of such an illegal act by other states. For occupying powers, including Russia and Israel, it provides invaluable precedent as well as encouragement that, sooner or later, their “might” will also one day “make right,” as they observe how even states that profess commitment to the rules-based international order abandon it for their short-term political and economic interests.

Keep reading for free

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

Get instant access to the rest of this article by creating a free account below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:
Subscribe for an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review
  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.