This report examines contemporary French security policies and finds that despite momentous geopolitical changes in Europe since late 1989, the basic elements of French security policy have not changed much, as revealed both in France's relations with Europe and NATO and in France's response to the Gulf War. Looking ahead, the study finds that a major reorientation of security policy is unlikely in the near term. For U.S. policy, the study finds that it is not in America's interest to "marginalize" or "isolate" France by focusing solely on our "Atlantic" allies in Europe. While the study shows evidence that immobilism is more likely than major change in French-U.S. relations, it still argues that the United States should not oppose attempts to create a European security and defense identity and that it should do more to show France that the rejuvenation of NATO is not meant to exclude and replace everything else.

This report seeks to identify the various pressures on the famous French "defense consensus" and to ask how France has been adapting to those pressures so far. Based on extensive interviews with French officials and analysts over the past 12 months, the report places evolving French security policy into its postwar context and attempts to determine the extent to which traditional French thinking about European security has changed, and to identify those areas in which it has not changed. Section 2 reviews the main elements of French security policy since the early 196Os and examines the geopolitical, diplomatic, and fiscal pressures that many believe will force France to modify its long-standing approach. Section 3 analyzes French policy over the past 2 years in three key dimensions: the Atlantic Alliance, the European security identity, and France's global military role in the wake of the Persian Gulf War. Section 4 assesses the prospects for near-term change in French security policy and analyzes three of the most plausible scenarios that could follow the legislative elections scheduled for 1993. Section 5 concludes by examining the implications of French policy for French-American relations and offering some recommendations for U.S. policy toward France. Despite momentous geopolitical changes in Europe since lae 1989, the basic elements of French security policy have not changed much, as revealed both in France's relations with Europe and NATO and in its response to the Gulf War. The study finds that a major reorientation of security policy is unlikely in the near term. It is not in America's interest to marginalize or isolate France by focusing solely on its Atlantic allies in Europe. While immobilism is more likely than major change in French-U.S. relations, the United States should not oppose attempts to create a European security and defense identity, and it should do more to show France that the rejuvenation of NATO is not meant to replace everything els7

This book describes the evolution of French defence policy since the end of the Cold War. For the past thirty years there have been significant changes to French defence policy as a result of several contextual evolutions. Changes include shifts in the global balance of power, new understandings of the notion of international security, economic downturns, and developments in European integration. Yet despite these changes, the purpose of France’s grand strategy and its main principles have remained remarkably stable over time. This book identifies the incentives, representations and objectives of French defence policy The authors examine the general mechanisms that influence policy change and military transformation in democracies, the importance of status-seeking in international relations, the processes of strategy-making by a middle power, and the dilemmas and challenges of security cooperation. By doing so the book raises a number of questions related to the ways states adjust (or not) their security policies in a transformed international system. This book makes French-language sources available to non-French-speaking readers and contributes to a better understanding of a country that is at the forefront of Europe’s external action. This book will be of great interest to students of defence studies, French politics, military studies, security studies, and IR in general.

Since 1989, French defense and security policy has been undercut by changes in the external environment and domestic pressures to deal with the challenge of economic modernization. The Soviet revolution of 1989, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the experience of coalition warfare during the Gulf War-all have challenged the assumptions and realities underlying the Gaullist synthesis. Above all, the French position on security independence has been put into question. The main hope has been for a European Alliance to supplant the American one over time in the face of a gradual process of change within Europe but change has not been gradual within Europe. The European Union is challenged by discontent within Western Europe. A new Central Europe has emerged that has yet to find its place in European or global politics. A new Russia is emergent in which nationalism is defining an assertive role for the Russians within Europe, but at the same time the economic weakness of Russia limits its ability to play such a role.

Contents: Background (France and Post-Cold War European Security; Mitterrand's Legacy); Chap. 2, Concepts and Doctrine (the new nexus of security and integration; the security concern of Muslim fundamentalism, etc.); Chap. 3, Some French Military Trends (Force Development: the 1995-2000 Military Plan; Mitterrand's Nuclear Legacy; the Nuclear Test Moratorium); Chap. 4, Institutional Developments (the Balladur Cohabitation Government; a French-British Defense Axis; an Inter-African Peacekeeping Force?); Chap. 5, After Mitterrand

Against the broad historical background of economic globalisation and dwindling nation-state resources, this book examines the impact of the end of the Cold War and of the geo-political transformation of Europe on a wide range of issues, from changing perceptions of France's future world role to the internal ramifications of a new ideological and strategic environment. Multi disciplinary in focus, it draws on the expertise of historians, political scientists, sociologists and economists working in the field of French studies.

As France begins to confront the new challenges of the post-Cold War era, the time has come to examine how French security policy has evolved since Charles de Gaulle set it on an independent course in the 1960s. Philip Gordon shows that the Gaullist model, contrary to widely held beliefs, has lived on--but that its inherent inconsistencies have grown more acute with increasing European unification, the diminishing American military role in Europe, and related strains on French military budgets. The question today is whether the Gaullist legacy will enable a strong and confident France to play a full role in Europe's new security arrangements or whether France, because of its will to independence, is destined to play an isolated, national role. Gordon analyzes military doctrines, strategies, and budgets from the 1960s to the 1990s, and also the evolution of French policy from the early debates about NATO and the European Community to the Persian Gulf War. He reveals how and why Gaullist ideas have for so long influenced French security policy and examines possible new directions for France in an increasingly united but potentially unstable Europe.