Centre Thucydide - analyse et recherche en relations internationales

Francophony as an actor in International Relations

MAJZA Béatrice — 2005-11-30T23:00:00Z

The Ninth Conference of the Heads of State and government of the countries having French in division (2002), which was held in Beirut, consolidated the international role of francophony and shown its capacity to be counted among the instruments which contribute to control and to humanize globalization. Its political vocation, consolidated by the restoration of the means and the methods, was organized around several poles : the deepening of the democracy within French-speaking space, the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity and international solidarity and the defence of a globalization based on values of equity and tolerance. Joining together around the values of fraternity, tolerance and universality very diverse countries by their history, their culture and their level of development, Francophony has vocation to become an important actor of international relations.

Summary AFRI-2005

Still very much of an Entente Cordiale between France and Britain

ARBOIT Gérald — 2005-11-30T23:00:00Z

The setting of one century of Entente Cordiale in a historical perspective reveals a relation less bilateral than it appears to be. From 1904 to 2004, the relation between France and Great Britain has always depended on the maintenance of balance in Europe. In fact, the duo is actually a threesome, as Germany acts as the pivot of the Entente. Moreover, as it remained focused on questions which divided the two contractors, it was never fused into a true alliance, neglecting the bilateral relation as well as the cultural exchange.

Summary AFRI-2005

France's international information channel

ARBOIT Gérald — 2004-11-30T23:00:00Z

During his political campaign, Jacques Chirac declared he wished to create a French international information TV channel. Having drawn a lesson from the picture battle prior to the second Gulf war, he meant to rationalise France's foreign audiovisual pole. After twenty years of wandering, the idea is still a disjointed instrument. Bernard Brochand's project of associating the first private network in terms of audience, TF1, to the public holding company, France Television, does not only asks questions on the conception of public service, but also on the unilateral political utility of such an initiative.

Summary AFRI-2004

Variations on foreign policy

COLIN Jean-Pierre — 2004-11-30T23:00:00Z

Foreign policy often remains a puzzle hard to decipher, as the reflection of force relations between States and the extension of domestic policy to the international level. The Iraqi crisis, as it has split the core of Western solidarity, led the World Organisation near the edge, and has been a disruption from the system's basic principles, illustrates this assertion. Yet, diplomacies are not condemned to a perpetual « wandering », provided they simply endow themselves with a both rational and empirical method, they may reach their goals. This implies, first and foremost, an analysis deprived of any complacency whatsoever of realities, without which all is but an illusion; this also presupposes that States do not seek to attain goals out of their reach. Thus, France must always remember that getting along with the United Kingdom is essential and that, as important as its part may have been after the Second World War, the Franco-German agreement would run the risk of being an insuperable obstacle on the path of Europe's political union as soon as it becomes exclusive.

Summary AFRI-2004

About the international influence of French laws

MOREAU Michel — 2003-11-30T23:00:00Z

At the eve of this third millennium, France is no longer the long-recognised leading figure it used to be in juridical matters. Legal models compete strongly nowadays, in particular within regional and international organisations, at the latter's initiative. Rules in penal proceedings are concerned as well as private international law and all new subjects in technologies and intellectual property law. In this competition between « legal importers » and « legal exporters », French law must face many strong competitors ; a strategy including clear and classified objectives must appear to promote and defend it. This mission belongs, firstly, to the State. But the large community of actors in the law must also be attentive to the necessary excellence of the latter, as well as be united and offensive in the promotion of the French juridical model. In the years to come the internationalisation of law demands that France be « one thinking ahead » in juridical matters.

Summary AFRI-2003

A diplomatic cohabitation

COHEN Samy — 2003-11-30T23:00:00Z

Alternately praised and blamed, cohabitation has played a major part in running the fifth Republic institutions and in leading French diplomacy and defence. It therefore deserves an unbiased appraisal at distance from election time. The picture that comes out of the comments of the political elite in the months preceding the April-June 2002 elections is far from flattering. As far as foreign policy is concerned, cohabitation appears as too complicated way of government to be considered as ideal. In the medium and long term, it has an anaesthetic effect. But it requires more moderation, reflection and dialogue. It reduces the risk of untimely decisions and political dysfunction, which is eminently positive. It appears as a factor of rationalization of the decision-making process. This evaluation can be seen as rash and asks for more detailed explanations that one must replace to make it clear in the historical context that saw the three cohabitations of the fifth Republic shape up and operate.

Summary AFRI-2003

The Gaullist vision of european order

SZEPTYCKI Andrej — 2002-11-30T23:00:00Z

The Gaullist vision of the European system was widely different from the conceptions of the general's partners. De Gaulle criticized the "hegemony" of two of the superpowers and he proposed to create a new "Concept of Europe". He supported the Franco-German reconciliation and the creation of the European Community, but he objected to the supranational cooperation, as he wanted to build the "Europe of the nations". He attached great importance to the alliance with the USA, yet he considered that Europe should be "European", that is to say independent from her American ally. He denounced the communist expansion in Eastern Europe, however he decided to develop the cooperation with the Soviet Union in order to create the "Europe from Atlantic to Oural".

The changes during the last decade proved that Gaullist conceptions were impossible to establish. Nevertheless the general's ideas still influence French foreign policy. In 1989 president Mitterrand proposed to create a “European confederation” in order to overcome the division of the continent. In 1992 France accepted the Treaty of Maastricht, however it still rejects federal conceptions of the European integration. French leaders emphasize the importance of the Atlantic Alliance, yet they are attached to the conception of the "Defense Europe".

Summary AFRI-2002

Franco-German Partnership in Post-Cold War Era. From the Moscow Treaty (1990) to the Nice Treaty (2001)

COLARD Daniel — 2002-11-30T23:00:00Z

Franco-German relationships have much evolved in the post-Cold war era, that is after the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9th, 1989. Else than the reunification of the new Germany within the new Europe, the international status of France and reunited Germany has known a considerable transformation, the rise in power of the Berlin Republic has wiped the discriminations that would profit France before the Soviet Empire disintegrated. This being said, Franco-German consensus and partnership remain essential to favor the European integration process, especially on the verge of another enlargement towards the East of the Union.

Summary AFRI-2002

The weight and uses of the past in French-Algerian relations

ROSOUX Valérie-Barbara — 2001-11-30T23:00:00Z

The objective of this reflection is to show that the management an representation of the past are essential to take into consideration in a study of the French-Algerian relations. In order to do this, this article is structured around two major axes. The first considers the general mechanisms that turn to the past in the framework of foreign policy. It shows that memory is not only a constraint for the actors of foreign policy, but that it also constitutes an instrument that they can use. The second explores the different uses that are made of the past in the French-Algerian relations and their impact on the rapprochement of the two states.

Summary AFRI-2001

French-Algerian relations or the search for friendly incomprehension

DAGUZAN Jean-François — 2001-11-30T23:00:00Z

The French-Algerian relationship, already marked by a strongly emotional aspect, has become more and more complex since the beginning of the civil war. After hesitating, France began tacitly supporting the Algerian government faced with Islamic insurrectionists, but without any clarification of the fundamental ambiguities that characterize this bilateral relationship, due to frustration and incomprehension. The different periods of "cohabitation" (share of power between government branches of different political orientation) in France have made the expression of a coherent policy line very difficult up until 1999. Since then, French policy toward Algeria could be summarized as a sustainable but limited support to Algerian government and with the transfer of some parts of the file to European Union in order to go round the emotional aspects of the bilateral relationship. In a sense, due to the multiple ties that link them, France and Algeria have no choice but to remain intertwined. What is now essential is an effort to better organize that which could not be "normalized" in this relationship.

Summary AFRI-2001