Abstract:

When analysing the last twenty years of French foreign policy, Stanley Hoffmann emphasizes, first of all, its great continuity, centred on two concerns: reaching a stable relationship with Germany; and combatting decline. But the world is changing. The collapse of the Communist bloc and the winding up of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 caused a diplomatic earthquake. These are difficult times for France. She has to behave more modestly, and in particular more flexibly with the great American protector. Yet, without any continuity of her diplomacy, France has undergone a major transformation. Europe is now the great plan. The purely national chapter in her history is nearly over, or at least reaching its limits. Is the European chapter beginning?


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