Aron Discusses African Problem, European Market

"The major problem facing France today is the establishment of good diplomatic relations with North Africa," Raymond Aron, professor of Sociology at the Sorbonne, told a New Lecture Hall audience last night.

Aron entitled his lecture series "France in the 20th Century, Continuity or Decay?" Aron maintained that although political instability may take the form of frequent changes in regime, France is becoming "more vital at the time of her retreat" from North Africa.

The Sorbonne professor, sponsored by the Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Fund, felt the British colonial policy should be the model for France: cooperation with the North African nationalists and their attempts to form a new government. However, Aron recognized that the wish for equality among Frenchmen and the wish to become masters, both prevalent in the French mind, are hard to reconcile.

Speaking in the last of his three lectures, Aron also applied "continuity" to French economics, attempting to dispell the "myth of decaying French economy." He felt the lack of a fast-growing industrial life was due to a stagnating population, and the traditional French policy of protection of agricultural interests.

The common European market agreement was not considered to be as valuable in France as in the United States, Aron said. The professor felt that it will be hard to combine Germany's strict economic control policies with the more lenient methods of the French. He expressed the hope that commercial disagreements will not disrupt Franco-German relations.

Although Aron is in many ways skeptical of French policies, he strongly feels that "self-criticism is a form of national glorification."