Current development and prospects for the future: French security policy in a changing world.

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Author
Graham, Janice M.
Date
1991-06Advisor
Abenheim, Donald
Second Reader
Breemer, Jan S.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This thesis provides an analysis of the effects of recent historical
events on the future of French security policy. The end of the Cold
War division of Europe, the rebirth of Germany, the growing
pressures for major defense cuts, the calls for France to review its
nuclear doctrine, abandon its independent policies and rejoin NATO's
integrated military structure, and finally, the lessons of the recent
Gulf War, are issues that threaten to divide France in a way that has
not occurred in several decades. The fundamental question for the
decade of the 1990s is how to, or perhaps whether to, preserve the
legacy of national independence and grandeur handed down by
former President Charles de Gaulle. The thesis concludes that the
Gaullist myth of grandeur and independence can no longer be
sustained. French security must now be achieved by strengthening
ties with NATO, and building a stronger West European defense posture centered around close Franco-German relations.