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In October 1916, the French government agreed with Armenian political elites to establish a Légion of Armenian volunteers in British Cyprus to fight the common Ottoman enemy. Despite British, French, and even Armenian rejections of such a Légion during different times throughout 1915 and early 1916, all sides overcame earlier concerns. Understanding how they managed to overcome these concerns will allow for this little-known episode in the history of the Great War in the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to the knowledge on (1) the complex French and British wartime stances towards this region, driven by imperialism and humanitarianism; (2) the ability of local elites to draw concessions from the Allies; (3) the important role played by local British and French colonial and military officers; and (4) broader historiographical debates on the responses to the Armenian Genocide. This article explores the origins of how the Entente co-opted Armenians in their eastern Mediterranean campaigns, but also made them into pawns in the French and British reinvention of their imperial rivalry in this region in order to achieve their post-war imperialist agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article addresses the issue of disciplinary variety in French International Relations (IR) from the perspective of Bourdieu's scientific field theory. The tug of war between ‘dominants’ and ‘pretenders’ for the control of IR as ‘their’ discipline in French academia originates from the difficulty of (only) one discipline, that is, political science, monopolising IR. Compared to other subfields of political science, IR is the field of research that borrows most from other scholarly disciplines. These difficulties strengthened the imperviousness of French IR to the works of IR scholars from the Anglo-American world; until very recently, insularity and particularism could not proceed much further. This period matches roughly to one in which IR was dominated, in France, by law and history. Today there is still a very strong influence of this period when scholars from disciplines other than political science distrusted IR theories. Other reasons related to the issue of the disciplinary variety of IR, for instance the absence of a general acknowledgment of the peer-review system, may contribute to the complexity, if not confusion, which characterises the identify of French IR. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comparisons of peacebuilding with historic practices of imperialism are common, but these comparisons have sustained a hegemonic antagonism between humanitarian and imperialist interpretations of international peace intervention. This article argues that this common framing externalises the problem of intervention, romanticises local resistance, and forecloses to investigation the articulation between militarised peace practices and transnational capitalist relations. To do so, the article analyses the case of Francophone Africa, thus providing a context that has been left unexplored in peacebuilding debates. By bringing back in the historicity of particular Franco-African imperial experiences into peacebuilding research, the article reveals the militarisation of politics, transnational elite networks, and the dominant intellectual predispositions that work to reproduce the legitimacy of hegemonic practices of ‘peace’ interventionism. In the last section, the article analyses the debates over the UN-French 2011 intervention in Côte d'Ivoire to reveal the connections between the ethics of humanitarian interventions and the political economy of imperialism. The article concludes that the imperial legacy of peacebuilding is found in old capabilities, new organising logics, and specific practices and power relations and that to focus on the humanitarian-imperialist antagonism caricatures the relationships between ‘local’ and ‘international’ actors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Spanish Armada and the battle of Lepanto loom large in a remarkable period of international history shaped to a considerable extent by the deployment of sea power. Yet between 1581 and 1583, France also conducted a large-scale naval operation at great distance. A series of expeditions to the Azores reached a climax with the defeat in battle of a French fleet of sixty ships off the island of São Miguel in July 1582. Acting under the authority of Catherine de Medici and in the name of her rival legal claim to the Portuguese throne, the commander Philippe Strozzi had not only led the most ambitious oceanic operation in French history up to that date and a bid to extend France's overseas empire but a serious challenge to Philip II's union of the Iberian crowns. Yet this was more than just a puzzling anomaly in France's foreign policy. It was also an act of royal authority and the pursuit of reputation and status by the queen mother that was entirely consistent with the domestic priorities of the crown in the context of the Wars of Religion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article makes theoretical and empirical contributions to the recent literature on the socialisation and punishment of state and non-state actors. First, it argues that the English School can add significantly to our understanding of the socialisation and punishment processes because of the theory's emphasis on great powers as ‘custodians’ of the society of states. Second, it analyses the policies of the United Kingdom, France, and, to a lesser degree, a number of other powers toward the Bolsheviks and the Whites during the Civil War and beyond (1917–1924). The basic argument is that London, Paris, and other capitals acted like ‘guardians’ of the society of states in their attempt to punish and socialise the participants in the Civil War. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the commitment of French authorities in Morocco in maintaining the differences between Berbers and Arabs. It notes on the beliefs that French scholars and military administrators that the country was a Berber country and that Arabization should be discouraged which is evident in the linguistic ideological upbringings of both French native policies and the studies that strengthens the first two decades of the Moroccan Protectorate. Moreover, it presents on the documentation of the Protectorate archival record of the two language ideologies.

This article asks the question: 'Why have the French not developed "think tanks'?" by looking at the period when such institutions were being set up in The UK and the United States, during the preparation for the Paris Peace Conference and its aftermath. It is suggested that the reasons were a mixture of French bureaucratic and intellectual disposition but also in a growing revulsion in Paris at what was seen as duplicity and conspiracy by its Allies to ignore the legitimate concerns and needs of the French people. The central source material used is the papers of the 'Commission Bourgeois' whose deliberations are often rather air brushed out of academic literature on the period and work done within the French Foreign Ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the thesis that the ambition for primacy, rather than the attainment and maintenance of parity with rival states, governed the diplomatic calculations of the major powers throughout the eighteenth century. It examines the shortcomings of balance theory as well as the myth of a status quo during the period. It presents a background of the struggle for commercial hegemony between Great Britain and France. The article explains the reasons for the absence of balance of power theory during the century.

Explores debates regarding the January 1936 accords between Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and French foreign minister Pierre Laval regarding the invasion of Ethiopia. Evidence indicating that Laval gave his approval for Italy to invade Ethiopia; Goal of Laval to maintain limited French economic interests; Failure of Laval to foresee the results of his diplomacy.

Discusses diplomatic documents which record the relationship between France and the court of the bey of Tunis from the late 17th century to the middle of the 19th century. Adaption of the ceremonies of submission and reverence to meet European understanding of the state and nation; Muslim attitudes to infidels; French Revolution's introduction of criteria and tensions which continued to vex relations into the 19th century.

Examines Franco-American disagreements over the Great Lakes crisis in Central Africa. Reaction of African governments toward Franco-American rivalry; History of the rivalry; American foreign policy towards Africa and French misperceptions; French foreign policy's identity crisis after the end of the Cold War; Effects of the rivalry to other geopolitical areas.

Explores the political aspects of French foreign policy towards Netherlands before the French revolution. Intervention in Netherlands between 1784 and 1787; Incoherence of French foreign policy; Impact of the Dutch affair to France.

Discusses the events that led to the changes in Franco-African relations in the 20th century. Redirection of French trade and capital investment away from francophone states to others in the continent; Demise of the Franco-African preferential monetary and trading area known as la zone france.

Examines the roots of the French attitude towards Laos in motivation for annexation. Impact on attempts to achieve mise en valeur of the territory; History of the French annexation of Laos; Plans for absorption of Laos into a greater Vietnam under the guise of French Indochina.

Discusses the descent to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the abortive United States-Japanese negotiations of 1941 and Japan's penetration of Indo-China. Actions by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Information on what Roosevelt cited in May 1942 to the French presence in South East Asia; Reference to Admiral Jean Decoux, former French Vichyite Governor of Indo-China.

Investigates Dutch investment in France from 1781-1787. Developments identified by a survey of the financial history of the country; Economic impact of growing war and post-war expenses; Credit worthiness of the monarchy during the 18th-century.

The article discusses the agreement between British Foreign Minister Sir Samuel Hoare and French Premier and Foreign Minister Pierre Laval called the Hoare-Laval Plan and its relation to the politics of Great Britain, France and Italy. The Hoare-Laval proposed for the settlement of the Italo-Ethiopian War. Starting 1928, the Fascist government of Italy under Benito Mussolini had pursued a policy of economic and political penetration with considerable vigor in order to protect its interest on Ethiopia. The British, French and Italian policies in the crisis are described.

The article presents a discussion of the characteristics of the German-Franco relations from the point of view of a French historian. French public opinion with regard to Germany and the German policy of the various French governments are also given attention. It is inferred that the reader may obtain from the article an impression that there is something valuable in the wide complex which is the French attitude toward Germany.

The article discusses the influences of France and the U.S. to reform the Russia's economic, political, and social policies. The American and French revolutions have a profound influence on the history of Russia, particularly under Czar Alexander I. The French plan was that of democratic centralization, while American plan was federation.

In this article, the author discusses the issue regarding the announcement made by Nicolas Sarcozy on the return of 297 Korean manuscripts to Korea that the French military had stolen in 1866. She notes that the Korean and French government agencies have already an agreement but reflects only that the manuscripts will still be French property. She also comments that the motive of the President is only dictated by diplomatic and economic interest not by cultural and heritage.