What Is Frances Place In The World?
Our country is traditionally proud of its international status. Does France’s national identity not at least partially depend on its international identity? Was not the slogan “I am involved, therefore I am” for decades an expression of France’s relationship to international issues? France’s citizens, however, have been emboldened through a campaign that more than ever has stressed individual demands (“What will France do for me?”) over collective ambitions (“What could we do for France?”). In this vein, they were generally satisfied with the foreign policy of President Jacques Chirac. In the eyes of the French, the outgoing French president—with his strict refusal to condone the 2003 US invasion of Iraq—offset an otherwise very negative domestic record. Is it possible, in the absence of a foreign policy debate, to offer a few recommendations and warnings? 1. France cannot mistake the century it is presently in. Globalization is an irreversible reality. France is presently being offere
