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French policy towards Israel in the 1950s and 1960s depended on a number of variables. Above all, French diplomacy never considered Israel apart from broader Middle Eastern and international considerations. The collusion of the Sinai Campaign of 1956 transformed this situation only to a certain extent; parallel evaluation of the merits and limits of Franco-Israeli relations predated the establishment of the French Fifth Republic. A process of readjustment undertaken by de Gaulle's administration came to the fore in 1960. It combined elements of practical assistance with reserved association in public. The nature of transition defied simple classification. While Israel was concerned about allegedly waning support, the official French narrative denied the existence of a major shift in the substance of bilateral ties. In a way, each party misinterpreted the actions of the other: for Israel, ongoing French assistance did not fully outweigh the decline in overt expressions of 'friendship'; viewed from Paris, the reactions to every minor French 'no' seemed exaggerated. The limitations accompanying bilateral trade confirmed these diverging perspectives even further. Yet, seen in its proper historical context, the outcome of this process was not set in stone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1825, France recognized its former colony Haiti's independence, ending an over twenty-year struggle for the black republic to obtain legal recognition as a sovereign state but saddling it with a financial indemnity that crippled its economy. This article argues that France's formal recognition of the republic gave Haiti an important advantage to defend its sovereignty as a legitimate nation, as well as its political union with Santo Domingo in 1822. In doing so, the study brings together two bodies of literature that rarely speak to one another: nineteenth-century Haitian diplomatic history and works treating Dominicans' experience under Haitian rule. This article will focus on the aftermath of French recognition of Haitian independence that affected British commercial negotiations with Haiti. Finally, it will examine how Haiti's recognized independence forced the Spanish to enter diplomatic talks with the Haitians over sovereignty and rule in Santo Domingo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the Lomé Convention (1975) was signed between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 46 African Caribbean and Pacific States, the EEC member states had to deal with the African members of the Commonwealth. Among the Six France was in a peculiar position, wishing to maintain a special relationship between the EEC and the French-speaking African states and to enlarge its relations with other regions of the Third World. This article, based on an examination of the French Foreign Ministry Archives and the Papiers Foccart, aims to investigate the prehistory of the relations between the EEC and the English-speaking African states. It analyses the French role in the debate, outcomes and consequences of the first agreements signed by the European Community with Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. To this aim it will focus on the negotiations between the EEC and the African states, but also on the debate which took place in some international organisations on the Yaoundé Convention, in order to understand to what extent these discussions paved the way for the evolution of the EEC Development Policy during the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France’s hesitant stance on EU enlargement towards the Balkans is illustrative of a broader ambivalence among both French elites and citizens towards the European project. Despite principled support for the Balkans’ EU membership, achieving this step is no strategic priority for France. The official approach emphasizes strict conditionality and a rigorous monitoring of reform progress in aspirant countries. A hostile public opinion and superficial media coverage further strengthen the country’s reluctance to admit new, possibly unprepared candidates into the Union. Analysing the historical evolution of the French position on EU enlargement as well as its current political, institutional and societal expressions, this article construes France’s disinvestment from the Balkans’ EU perspective as the result of failed expectations and a growing disillusionment with the EU’s international role and its political future more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Even though France is an active player on the world stage, its foreign and security think tank milieu is smaller than that of similar powers, most notably the United Kingdom. Comparing French think tanks with those in Denmark illustrates how French institutional structures constrain think tank activities. France’s political tradition of centralisation, its non-academic civil service education, and separation of academia and administration create an environment in which think tanks are underfunded and walk a fine line between an over-controlling administration and a suspicious academia. Some French think tanks perform well in spite of these structures, which indicates that they could flourish and compete at the highest international level if given better structural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

French policy towards UN peacekeeping reflects the ambivalence of what France wants to achieve in the field of conflict management and through which institutional frameworks it prefers to work. On the one hand, France is greatly involved in the design and decision-making process of contemporary UN-led peacekeeping operations. On the other hand, after having been present in the field during the early 1990s, France underwent a major policy shift that led it to distance itself from UN operations. This chapter offers a narrative of French policy and perceptionsvis-à-visthe virtues and limits of UN peacekeeping operations in the twenty-first century. It examines the French level of contributions, decision-making process, motivations and lessons learnt from past and current operations. It also analyses the dichotomy between the political role that France plays at the Security Council and its absence from UN-led operations. It seeks to determine how coherent this dichotomy is, its rationale, and how likely – and under what conditions – it will change in the near future, in particular through a hypothetical French return to UN-led peacekeeping operations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper addresses the impact of the Rhine Crisis of 1840 on Italian countries and explains the role they played in the European State System when the Continent seemed to be on the eve of a general war. As the paper attempts to prove, the crisis seriously alarmed the ruling classes as well as the general public and revealed the internal problems of the Italian countries as well as their deep distrust towards the egotistic and self-serving policies of the Great Powers. The paper therefore introduces the history of Italy during late 1840 within the wider context of European diplomatic history and serves as a probe into the history of the European State System during the Pre-March period in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the middle of the Algerian War of Independence, the French military and government launched an elaborate campaign to ‘liberate’ Algerian Muslim women. The timing of its inception indicated one of the strongest motivations behind this elaborate series of policies. Indeed, French propagandists and officials, prompted by the appearance on the international stage of ‘modern’-looking female Algerian nationalist agents, scrambled to uphold the myth that Algerian Muslim gender relations in the territory were ‘backwards’ and only they could rectify this shortcoming in Algerian society. They consequently embarked upon the emancipation campaign mainly in pursuit of convincing outsiders of France's purported ability and duty to make Algeria ‘modern'. For this reason, the production of photographic evidence capable of visually demonstrating that Muslim women were becoming French and liberated under French guidance was one of the campaign's central aims. In order to obtain such evidence, military agents exploited and falsified representations of Muslim women, a process this article examines. The present work additionally elucidates many of the hypocrisies inherent in the French army's exploitation of Muslim women and their bodies through their elaborate propagandist efforts; through their actions on the ground in Algeria, French soldiers and military leaders, including individuals directly implicated in the ‘emancipation’ campaign, were actually confining, abusing, and torturing Muslim women rather than freeing them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Historians have speculated over the existence of an 1841 plan by the French foreign minister François Guizot to internationalize Jerusalem as a Christian city, a plan holding major implications for the eventual emergence of a Jewish state and for European–Ottoman relations. This article aims, based on fresh archival and other sources, to provide a definitive evaluation of Guizot's plan, its scope, and its motivations. It broadens the field to encompass other great power plans mooted in 1841, including plans of a Protestant yet Zionist flavour, and it reassesses the political weight of early nineteenth-century European religious impulses with regard to Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participation of many thousands of troops recruited in France's overseas colonies, including many Moroccan infantrymen, known as ‘goumiers’, has been overlooked by historians and left out of accounts of significant battles of the Second World War. Yet Moroccan soldiers took part in some of the fiercest combat in the Mediterranean region, in Tunisia, in Sicily and Corsica, in the liberation of Marseille, and went on to liberate Paris and provide manpower for the invasion of Germany at great cost. Tracing the trajectory of thegoumierunits in the later years of the war, this essay recovers many details of their suppressed history, situating the memory of their exploits, along with the recollection of some of their less heroic deeds, within new frameworks of interpretation informed by the idea of empire, the historiography of race, and narratives of colonial exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the 1960s, French president de Gaulle's ambition to create a ‘European Europe’ depended heavily on German support. This article illustrates and reinterprets the crucial attitude of Ludwig Erhard by focusing on his role after the signing of the Elysée treaty in January 1963, and his reaction to a secret (and since forgotten) French proposal for monetary union in March 1964. The evidence shows that Erhard, fundamentally a moderate Atlanticist, was profoundly affected by the pressure of the Kennedy administration not to harbour Gaullist ideas. Indeed, as German chancellor Erhard feared that America might cease to defend Europe if de Gaulle's idea of a more independent Europe were to gain ground in Germany. Hence Erhard simply ignored any French move perceived to be contradictory to US policy. The article adds an element to the complexity of Franco-German relations in the 1960s while providing an example of how American power was exercised during the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This introductory article presents the history of francophone spaces to critically assess their specificity, and to situate them in academic debates on peace operations. It argues that the specificity is the inescapable a priori context of peace missions, even if this context is rapidly evolving and in interaction with non-francophone spaces. The specificity is nevertheless increasingly difficult to identify, as new practices and conditions emerge and as the lines between different francophone spaces and between francophone and non-francophone spaces are increasingly fluid. The article explores the range of possibilities that emerge from such interrogations, and emphasizes that to add the experiences of ‘francophone spaces’ to analyses of peace operations is to confront the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion already expressed by the terms ‘francophone’ and francophonie. This approach points to where and how hegemonic practices move and change between locations and different contexts, and where and how the organization or reorganization of power is negotiated, imposed and/or resisted across ‘francophone’ and ‘non-francophone’ spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article looks at an episode which though it happened in Tunisia had a direct link to the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62), and thus propelled the war to an international conflict that pitted the Western powers, namely; France, Britain and America against each other. By the time the incident occurred the Algerian War had been going on for just over three years with the French seemingly gaining the upper hand. This article endeavours to show how this incident complicated the Algerian conflict and how the episode was viewed internationally, especially from the British Government and media perspectives both had keen interest on the Algerian conflict as a result of their own empire in other parts of Africa. The article is based largely on archival research at the Public Record Office at Kew, (England) and Newspaper archives at Colindale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the relationship between France and Algeria in the immediate aftermath of Algerian independence. In 1963, Algeria repeatedly breached the Evian Accords, and continuously threatened France's national interests. Yet, French policymakers accommodated Algeria's reassertion and even rewarded it with a generous coopération package. I will argue that this remarkable discrepancy was due to Gaullist France's belief that association with its former colony would benefit its image and influence in the Third World. Algeria at the time enjoyed significant prestige in Asia and Africa, and this was precisely the arena where France was keen to deploy its leadership in order to enhance its independence from the two superpowers. This perception detracted Paris from the cool-blooded pursuit of ‘realist’ state interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates France's policy towards the Arab world and the Middle East at a critical juncture: the first oil crisis. Based on largely untapped archival records, it demonstrates that concerns over declining power spurred Georges Pompidou's government to Europeanise this policy, taking advantage of the anxieties unleashed by the Arab use of oil as a political weapon. It also sheds light on the intricate links between the transatlantic relationship, relations between the superpowers, the Middle East conflict and Franco-/Euro-Arab ties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Community Games [Jeux de la Communaute] took place in Antananarivo between 13 and 19 April 1960. This international sporting event was based on the model of the Olympic Games and was the first one to bring together all French-speaking African nations, i.e. the states which were part of the Community, as well as the French overseas departments and territories. How did these games turn out as African athletes were in the spotlight for the first time when competing against French sporting teams? It is important to focus on the role of sporting events within the framework of international politics. This competition, which was totally imbalanced as far as the respective strengths went, was a relevant indicator of how political and diplomatic relations were shifting between France and its African colonies and Madagascar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1958, Armand Gatti, on the brink of becoming a famous dramatist, took a trip to North Korea in the company of Claude Lanzmann, Chris Marker and Jean-Claude Bonnardot. This was the first visit to this country by French intellectuals. There, in the midst of a political crisis gripping the country, Gatti wrote the screenplay for the film Moranbong, directed by Bonnardot. In proposing to link a love story in North Korea through the eyes of a French journalist with the rehearsals for the Korean opera Chunhyang, Gatti created a unique film. In this film, which disappeared for many years because it was censored on its release, we find Gatti’s reflections on political regimes and human destinies, his will to invent a new role for the artist and for art, the influence of Sartrian and Camusian existentialism and his fascination for Asian arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As many unused sources in the Service Historique de la Defense in Vincennes and the Quai d'Orsay in Paris reveal the French Deuxieme Bureau, and also naval intelligence, monitored events during the home rule crisis, the Easter Rising, the First World War, the Peace Conference in Paris and the Civil War. Also worthy of note are the elaboration of Franco-Irish invasion plans during the Boer War and the secret mission of an Irish general in Paris shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The aims of this article will be to give an overview of French military intelligence activities regarding Ireland and to give an assessment of its interest in the country during the period under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article has two main theses: first, that from 1958 to 1967—Charles de Gaulle's presidency—there was a typical patron-client relationship between France and Israel that lasted until the Six Day War. It challenges the frequent claim in the literature that relations between Israel and France did not essentially change after de Gaulle's rise to power. Second, it argues that the basis on which this relationship was founded was rocky from the start since as a client, Israel was not ready to accede to French demands that it restrain its security policy to conform to key French interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on documents recently discovered in French archives, the article sheds new light on the role of France, especially of its Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, in providing arms and ammunition to the Etzel - the pre-state underground Zionist movement in Israel. The ship Altalena, which was sunk by the newly-formed Israel Defence Forces in the midst of the 1948 War of Independence, remains a centre of historiographical and political controversy in Israel. France's role in this affair is examined in the wider context of its clandestine intelligence, military and diplomatic assistance to Israel, as well as its rivalry with Britain in the Middle East. The article argues that Bidault's decision was intended to undermine Britain's secret support during the war in Palestine for King Abdallah of Jordan's occupation of Jerusalem. Documents, including a report of a committee of inquiry of the French Ministry of Defence into the Altalena affair, are annexed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few foreign diplomats have a more tainted reputation than the French ambassador Charles Faye, Lord of Espesses. His mission in The Hague (16241628) had a promising start but soon developed conflicts, misunderstandings and even violent confrontations. Many have blamed D'Espesses for damaging the alliance between France and the United Provinces. However, most of his actions can be explained in the light of international relations and the shifting politics of Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XlII. Obstacles in Franco-Dutch relations, like the French war with England, drove the two countries temporarily apart. Yet, the ambassador continued to defend the French crown and obtained the desired maritime goods. Although he was a zealous Catholic, D'Espesses learned to restrain himself in religious matters. Only when he and his entourage were in personal danger, did the ambassador exceed diplomatic conventions. Before these events occurred, he merely acted upon instructions from Paris. His successor, De Baugy, arrived under better circumstances and concluded a new alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses French cultural diplomacy in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, a country created after the First World War as a result of the Franco-Serbian military alliance during the war. Cultural diplomacy is examined as part of broader French political and economical action in Eastern Europe to organise the small newly created countries into the French field of interest and oppose Germany. French cultural diplomacy in the Kingdom of SCS had two aspects: the symbolical and the concrete. Its aim was to spread positive feelings towards France in the ex-Austria-Hungarian regions of the Kingdom, where France was unknown or seen as an enemy, and to maintain the pro-French attitude of the majority of Serbs. The aim was to contribute to the 'internal equalisation and strengthening' of the new ethnically and religiously heterogeneous country, by using culture as a 'soft power'. French cultural diplomacy in the Kingdom of SCS is analysed in its local, regional and European context and in a short- and long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using previously unpublished material to further socio-historic research into the migration of top footballers, this contribution studies changing national contexts in France and Algeria resulting in the dramatic fall in migration by Algerian footballers - the third largest 'foreign' population (since 1962) to play in the French Championship after professionalization. It also questions whether acculturation persisted in Algeria after independence. A quantitative analysis of 25 interviews carried out mainly in Algeria with ex-champions who had played for French clubs (colonial and postcolonial), shows that between 1956 and 1982 there did exist a 'desire for France'. Despite changes to the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) sports policies nationalizing Algerian football, this desire for France remained founded on socio-economic advancement and a fascination for life in the ex-homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monumental history seems to be fading in the films on contemporary Algeria. The unrest of the last decades has fractured false certainties and new images have since emerged. Although present, the relationship to France, as a colonial power, is secondary; this positioning allows a tangential critique of the Algerian political regime, while daily experiences are explored and given more exposure. In continuity with the films of the 1970s and 1980s, this exploration is mainly performed by female characters, with the particularity that they are left alone in their search for a better life and/or recognition. This paper aims to examine the aforementioned search in light of two major lines: first, the absence of strong male characters and the political and social marginality of female characters, and second, the contemporary expression of the logic of honour. Spatiality is central to the examination of the function of France as a constitutive part in the formation of Algerian (urban?) identities, be they problematic and highly conflictual. It allows shedding some light on the difficulty to foresee a possible change in the social structure and in the defining identities. In these contexts, social reality is raw and exposed, and life is so tenuous that the body becomes the prime target and the only shield to the violence. How then is speech rendered and how could it be transformative? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implications of the ideological shift prompted by the Fifth French Republic on the country's national identity. It cites studies that examined the genesis of the Fifth Republic that highlighted the need to clearly define nationality and citizenship. Moreover, it discusses the country's issues on national identity by citing its post-independence relations with sub-Saharan African states and the prevailing attitudes of the French North African minority population.

The article discusses the political and social development in the Fifth French Republic during the regime of Charles de Gaulle. It explores de Gaulle's views that led him to oppose the European Defense Community (EDC), particularly his views regarding France's independence from external control. Moreover, it examines the legacy left by de Gaulle in European policy, which according to the author is simply a set of behaviors and belief designed to create the illusion of control.

In an attempt to explain Europe's lack of influence and policy inconsistency in the Middle East, the European foreign policy literature has consistently pointed towards the existence of a democratization-stabilization dilemma. According to this explanation, EU long-term interests in a more democratic region have been consistently subordinated to short-term preferences for security and regime stability. The outcome has regularly been a lack of vision and consistency. This article questions this explanation by demonstrating that European vacillation has not been informed by a static competition between realist and idealist approaches, but by different national foreign policy traditions that are based on divergent views of identity, interests and threats. Analysing continuity and change in French and German Middle East policy, the article argues that a solution to the democratization-stabilization dilemma remains close at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 9/11, the Iraq war and the French and Dutch rebuttal of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, some have observed that EU member states have tended to de-Europeanize or renationalize foreign policies. In such a context, does France see its foreign policy future within the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) or outside it? Despite the inherent contradictions of the traditional French model of European foreign policy (intergovernmentalism, Europe puissance, EU as a power multiplier), France's commitment to a strong European foreign policy remains powerful. But the French allegiance to CFSP is less based on a political project for Europe and for its role in the world than motivated by necessity, as France is less and less able to act alone in the world. Thus, French policy vis-à-vis the EU in general and CFSP-European security and defence policy (ESDP) in particular has become increasingly pragmatic and flexible. This trend will most likely continue under President Sarkozy's leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French experience of the First World War has aroused significant interest within and outside academic circles since the 1990s. A heated controversy over the role and significance of the 1914-1918 'war culture' has, in the last ten years, pitted two schools of interpretation, emphasizing 'consent' on the one hand and 'coercion' on the other. This paper first presents the main lines of the argument between two groups of historians anxious to contribute to a European history of the First World War. It then suggests avenues of further investigation that urgently require an international and collaborative effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the first part of a series article on the role of Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French movement during the World War II in the crises in Syria and Lebanon during the war. According to the author, de Gaulle blames the British government for the crisis over his visit to the Levant. It is said that de Gaulle intentionally instigated crises in Syria and Lebanon after learning the plans of Great Britain and U.S. for a cross-channel invasion of France.

The article focuses on the relationship of France and Rome. It notes that Rome has improved its relationship with France in order to regain the Latin origin for redefinition of their culture. It cites that Latinity is one of the reason why Romanians had shifted to French culture. It discusses how the relationship directly affected the cultural and national identity of Romanians. It cites that Romanians have increased their effort to learn more about France through traveling and publications.

The British and French held divergent views from the late 1940s on relations with the United States and on the development of European integration. Differences between the two countries caused particular strain once General Charles de Gaulle returned to power in 1958. The clash that ensued between British and French policies towards the Atlantic Alliance and Europe during his presidency is the subject of this article. It suggests that while the British were unable to overcome de Gaulle's resistance to their membership of the EEC, Britain's fortunes in Europe were nevertheless improved by the Wilson government's response to de Gaulle's actions in the Atlantic Alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sir Ronald H. Campbell was the first British ambassador during the Second World War to manage a key bilateral relationship with a wartime ally. When the Germans invaded France in May 1940, Campbell's Embassy was transformed from a diplomatic reporting post into a frontline base that had to brief London not only on the political situation in France but also on strategic military matters. However, the British ambassador would constantly struggle to register his authority in the overall management of the Franco-British relationship, and more often than not, was bypassed by Whitehall departments, special advisors and senior ministers. Campbell only found himself in a more pivotal role as communications between the British and French Governments disintegrated and the latter moved to Bordeaux. It then fell upon Campbell to make some of the most dramatic decisions in twentieth century Franco-British history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France is frequently identified as the country whose official development assistance (ODA) aid program is most oriented toward the promotion of its foreign policy goals. We examine whether France reoriented the allocation of its aid in Africa to reflect changing priorities in the 1990s. Using panel data, we compare the patterns in French aid allocation to African recipients during the period 1980-1989 with that during the period 1990-2000. We find that nearly all the same political, economic, diplomatic, and cultural variables that explain French ODA allocation during the Cold War apply in the second period as well, though to a slightly lesser degree. The predictive strength of the prior years' ODA commitments did increase in magnitude, suggesting that bureaucratic inertia increasingly exerts a formidable force in such decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L'échec du projet britannique de pacte tripartite franco–anglo–soviétique révèle quelques traits majeurs des relations entre la France et le Royaume-Uni au XXème siècle. Le premier est l'existence de divergences qui concernent davantage l'accessoire que l'essentiel. Si les deux pays sont d'accord pour considérer qu'une alliance entre Paris, Londres et Moscou est essentielle à l'équilibre européen, ils divergent sur la forme à lui donner, les Français préférant un système de pactes bilatéraux à la formule tripartite proposée par les Britanniques. En outre cet épisode se caractérise par une absence de consultation entre les deux diplomaties. Les incidents qui en découlent pourraient prêter à sourire s'ils n'étaient pas le signe d'un climat de suspicion réciproque. Celui-ci est d'ailleurs plus marqué à Paris qu'à Londres. Tous ces éléments participent aux difficiles relations franco–britanniques et expliquent qu'il ait fallu attendre le 4 mars 1947 pour voir l'alliance franco–britannique se matérialiser par le traité de Dunkerque. Abstract: The failure of the British project of a tripartite pact between France, Britain and the USSR exemplifies some of the main features of the Franco–British relationship in the twentieth century. The first is the existence of divergences, which concern more incidental details than essential matters. If the two countries agreed to consider that an alliance between Paris, London and Moscow was essential for European balance, they differed on the form it should take. The French preferred a bilateral pact system to the tripartite pact formula proposed by the British. Moreover, this episode was distinguished by an absence of consultation between the two diplomacies. The incidents that followed could be risible if there were not signs of a climate of mutual suspicion which was, incidentally, more distinct in Paris than in London. All these elements contributed to the difficult Franco–British relationship and explain why one had to wait until 4 March 1947 to see a Franco–British alliance realized by the Dunkirk Treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

French–German resistance to the US war against Iraq marked a high point in the two countries' political alignment. It was followed by French proposals for even closer integration. Yet French and German policies and priorities differ in a number of fields. Prominent among these is the EU, where Germany has long worked for a reduction in EU spending and a redistribution of votes among the member countries. After reaching a compromise on these issues, co-operation with France on foreign and security policy has grown particularly close. This has affected Germany's relations with Central and Eastern Europe and with the US, areas where Germany traditionally pursued policies different from France. At the end of the second period of the Red–Green government, Germany's national interests have been redefined as a result of the relationship with France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to explain the evolution of French Levant policy from crusade to diplomacy. Traditionally French policy towards the Levant was dominated by the hope of the Most Christian Kings to re-conquer the Holy Land from the “infidels” until the early sixteenth century. In the course of the sixteenth century this changed and a new approach of treating Muslim powers in the same way as Christian neighbours emerged. The reason why the latter concept became predominant shall be explained by showing the examples of two French attacks on Beirut in the years 1403 and 1520. Although both were initially undertaken in the spirit of the crusades, France reversed its policy in the aftermath of the 1520 failure and sought co-operation with a Muslim state. Severely threatened on several borders by Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, France henceforth looked to the Ottomans as allies and gave up on further crusading projects. This reconsideration of its foreign policy aims culminated in the French–Ottoman treaty of 1536. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the portrayal of Franco-American relations in Diane Johnson's novel "L'Affaire." The novel, set in France concludes with the imminent departure of its heroine, Amy Hawkins. Human and geological shifts combine in the novel to produce a series of cataclysms, at once natural and cultural, comic and tragic, and literal as well as figurative. America's apparent eagerness to make Francophobia the same essential trait of American national identity that it has always been for the British paradoxically marks the U.S. as every bit as European as France.

Understanding the true nature of the relations between France and the United States is central to an understanding of the diplomatic crisis that broke out between them in 2003 over the War in Iraq. An analysis of the political cultures of France and the US offers considerable explanatory power to this dramatic diplomatic dispute. The inordinately emotional aspects of the Franco-US arguments of 2003 mask the fact that the two countries understand each other little. In the French case, its self-view and related diplomatic comportment in the twentieth century was informed by its relationship to Germany; and from it a range of cultural characteristics emerged, among them: vulnerability, self-regard, a romanticized view of itself, and the personalization of national identity. At the moment France’s response to its cultural heritage was beginning to shift to a different (post-Gaullist) paradigm, the dispute with the US erupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the longstanding ties between Algeria and France, the recent and ongoing 'civil war' has given rise to or revealed a large number of formal arrangements, associations, NGOs and exchange networks. However, it is important to know that the 'events of 1988' and all that grew out of them were not the social system's final implosion, but the aborted 15-year struggle aimed at acquiring basic liberties. Above all, Algeria most needs to share symbolic resources, of all segments of its disarticulated society. The great majority of the actors in these struggles have left the country, and it is on this exodus, its forms and effects, that we must meditate now. What becomes of the exiles? What are their ties with their country of origin? What sort of proximity do they make for themselves with those compatriots who left long before they did and for different reasons? And above all, what has become of the task of breaking free from 'unanimism', both inside and outside Algeria? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reassesses the foreign policy of the French government towards the Arab League of Countries. Opposition of the French government towards the military campaign against Iraq led by the United States; Background on French policy towards the Arab states; French-Arab interests in Africa and the Middle East.

Discusses the tension between the U.S. and France during the Fourth Republic from 1946 to 1958. Notion of the Right as a valid political concept; Factors that prevented several political groups from uniting into a broad-based political movement; Reluctance of France to forfeit national sovereignty to collective security.

Evaluates the rationale and the content of strategic dialogue between India and France and assesses the benefits it generates for both countries in light of the expectations both sides may entertain. Visit of Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to France in 1992; Willingness of India to strive for an independent nuclear force; Relationship between the Indian Space Research Organization and the Centre National d'Études Spatiales.

This article offers an overview of the history of sporting relations between France and Algeria from the colonial period to the present, with particular reference to association football or 'soccer'. Simultaneously local and global, this most 'mediatised' of modern games is discussed as a privileged site for cultural and political exchanges between the two nations. Attention is focused on the contribution made by football to Algeria's struggle for independence, and the subsequent efforts by the new Algerian state to exploit the game's potential for internal legitimisation and external recognition. Central to the discussion are a number of iconic Algerian footballers, including Rachid Mekloufi and Rabah Madjer, together with the outstanding French player of Algerian descent, Zinedine Zidane. In conclusion, the social and political lessons of the home side's victory in the France '98 World Cup are considered, as are those of the problematic France–Algeria 'friendly' match of 6 October 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feeling of belonging to a diaspora is relatively weak among Algerians for at least four main reasons. First, during the Algerian war of independence Algerian migrants were divided between rival nationalist movements and traces of these divisions can still be felt. Second, the period of immigrant settlement is still relatively recent. The 40 years that have elapsed since independence do not constitute a sufficiently long time period for the development of a strong diasporic consciousness in France. Third, the Algerian minority in France is divided in numerous ways, such as between Arabic-speakers and Berber-speakers and between migrant workers living apart from their families and the young generation of 'Beurs' born in France of immigrant parents. Fourth, the deterioration of the political situation in Algeria since the late 1980s has blow n apart the relationship between the Algerian state and ordinary Algerians both within and outside Algeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of European policy in France is far from having brought about a definitive decline of the state. Admittedly, over the last ten years, French local authorities have taken a very dynamic role in the management of European funds. Likewise, the state, which is not the principal user of European funds, cannot avoid the sharing of power, which is required by the Community principles of partnership and subsidiarity. This does not mean, however, that the state has stepped aside completely. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it has reorganised itself. After the strong mobilisation of the local authorities at the time of the reform of the structural funds (1989-1993), since 1994 we have noted a major redeployment of the state, which has adopted the role of intermediary between Europe and the local level. The state has rebuilt its margin for manoeuvre through its administration in the regions, whose role has been reinforced throughout the 1990s, following ten years of decentralisation. In short, the example of the implementation of European policy bears testimony to the major changes taking place in the French political system: the state of the 1990s may no longer be the interventionist, centralised state which characterised the 'French exception' for two centuries, but it is far from having withered away completely in favour of regional or local government. On the contrary, little by little, it is imposing itself in the role of a state which coordinates and arbitrates and whose future lies, paradoxically, in its ability to impose itself as a central figure on the local and regional scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the efforts of the United Nations to stop the dispute over the ownership of Western Sahara. Reasons behind the dispute; Effects of Morocco's refusal to negotiate directly with the Polisario Front; Options proposed by several countries to resolve the dispute, including France and Algeria; Information on a proposed draft agreement in June 2001 concerning the autonomy of Saharans under Moroccan sovereignty.

This article focuses on Great Britain's ambiguous stand over Algeria and the uncomforts it brought to the British embassy in France. For the first four years of the Algerian War, British ministers and officials reciprocated that while supporting the French position in North Africa they will not support their policies. But with successive conservative governments, there was a shift in the policy as they sought to sustain France in North Africa because of the impact that long term insurgency in Algeria would have on Western defense. Concerned about the prospective decline of Western influence in North Africa that could open the way for the communism and further add humiliation for France coming on the heels of Indochina, the whole scenario could lead to a "neutralist" government in Paris, which was unfavorable to Western alliance. Besides this, Britain's own foreign interests led it to wish to limit the spread of Arab nationalism and to avoid being tarred with the colonialist brush. The ambiguity of Britain's position led to shifting policies, which made the job of UN Ambassador in Paris, Gladwyn Jebb particularly difficult.

Focuses on the inscription of Angkor on the World Heritage List in December 1992. Description of the site and its temples; Historic value of the site; Role of the French government in developing the site and in the site's universal recognition; Display of major documents on Khmer art at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, France in 1878; Establishment of an Indochine Museum at the Tracadero; Success of the efforts of the French government to return Angkor to the Kingdom of Cambodian in 1907.

Focuses on the issues concerning the development of a French policy for Africa. Reformulation of development aid; Use of Africa to promote a positive image for France; Partial collapse of French influence in Francophone Africa; Multilateral management of Africa's political crisis; Framework for good economic governance.