Conflict and coopération distinguishes the post-colonial history of Algeria and France. Besides providing a process by which Algeria attained its independence (July 1962), the Evian Accords (March 1962) preserved an important French social, economic, and cultural post-colonial presence. France’s aid policies, collectively known as coopération, offered significant financial and educational assistance programs. The mission civilisatrice was converted into a post-colonial rayonnement, “radiating” and publicizing France’s cosmetic shift from colonialist to cooperator. Nevertheless, from 1962 to 1971, Algeria pursued a concurrent policy of “post-colonial decolonization,” marked especially by nationalizations, such as that of French oil hydrocarbons concessions in the Sahara. After a period of readjustment, relations were re-launched (the relancement) projecting a new pragmatism and highlighted by the presidential visit of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1975. Nevertheless, chronic emigrant/immigrant worker problems and commercial imbalances, compounded by the Spanish/Western Sahara crisis and conflict, caused a precipitous decline in bilateral relations dashing Algeria’s hope for significant French investment in its ambitious state-building. François Mitterrand’s redressement, marked by “co-development” projects and accords, temporarily briefly lifted relations to a privileged level in the early 1980s. The October 1988 riots, the emergence of the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), and the overthrow of the Algerian government in January 1992 after the first round of parliamentary elections marked a new period in the relationship. While France publicly condemned the coup, it also supported the Algerian government. French citizens were targeted by the escalating civil strife in Algeria, including religious. Furthermore, violence also occurred in France. On the one hand, the election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the presidency, a longtime foreign minister, seemed to promise a period of promising relations—mutual trust and understanding. On the other hand, new problems beset the relationship on moral and epistemological levels (to be emphasized by the paper). Algeria has repeatedly requested an official French apology for its colonialism. Historicism and memory have also become contentious issues regarding the interpretation of such infamous events as the Sétif Riots (May 1945), the October 1961 emigrant worker suppression, and the murder of French monks (discovered in May 1996). Despite occasional bilateral “psycho-dramas,” there remains a constant tangible and intangible need for the other, which is understood bilaterally. The post-colonial identities of Algeria and France are closely and paradoxically linked and will remain so for the foreseeable future.