Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The Rise of French Diplomacy

By James Heartfield, Spiked Online. Posted November 27, 2002.


The debate over the Security Council resolution on Iraq marked the reemergence of France as a major international player.

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

More stories by James Heartfield

Advertisement
Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg

In the United Nations' Security Council debate over the resolution on Iraq, many were surprised to see France re-emerge as a key player.

According to reports President George W Bush was for the first time in months regularly calling President Jacque Chirac on the telephone. Now that the Security Council has agreed to impose tough weapons inspections on Iraq, France is claiming to have secured an important concession. Meanwhile, British sources are ridiculing the minimal change in words in the final resolution. While visiting London, U.S. Pentagon advisor Richard Perle told the Guardian newspaper that, from France, "I have seen diplomatic manoeuvre, but not moral fibre".

The return of French diplomacy is something of a surprise -- not least for the British foreign office -- smarting at the recent isolation of London at the European summit. Though a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a nuclear power, France's status had dwindled in recent years.

America's support for rebel forces in Rwanda and Zaire in the 1990s reduced French influence in Africa. In 1995 France's nuclear tests in the Pacific upset U.S. attempts to enforce the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 1996 France's nomination for the post of UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was denied a second term in 1996, after Britain and the U.S.A ganged up to nominate their "own African" Kofi Annan, at a time when French-U.S. antagonism was said to be at its peak.

Behind this succession of international incidents stood France's diminished status in the emerging world order. France's chosen role for many years was as the diplomatic and military wing of the Franco-German alliance. While Germany was the European Union's economic locomotive, that country's troubled history limited its capacity to challenge the American order in the realm of diplomacy. But the Franco-German alliance was called into question by German reunification and the consensus-building international diplomacy of the Clinton Presidency in the 1990s.

With America more willing to deal directly with a reunified Germany, France's special position seemed to be over. Instead, Britain, having lost its Empire, at last appeared to have discovered a role. As the Clinton team sought to build international alliances, Britain under prime minister Tony Blair emerged as an intermediary between Europe - and specifically Germany - and America.

By driving the pace of humanitarian intervention in third world trouble spots, Britain was once again "punching above its weight" in the international ring, while France was looking like a non-contender. Lionel Jospin's foreign minister Hubert Vedrine did attempt to enhance France's reputation as a diplomatic innovator, but remained under Britain's shadow as Tony Blair stole a French proposal from the 1950s for a European Defence Force.

The changing mood of U.S. diplomacy following the election of Republican George W Bush, however, disturbed the pattern of international relations that had been established by President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Convinced that the previous administration had given too much away to the "international community" (read European diplomacy), the Bush administration tore up one treaty after the next in an effort to re-model the world order with its own status as sole superpower at the core.


Digg!    Share on facebook   submit to reddit    Bookmark on Delicious   Stumble This  

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »

Wildfires Are Linked to Global Warming -- But Media Obscure the Relationship
Environment: As climate change intensifies, wildfires are going to increase in the U.S. Publicizing the link could help drive home the danger of global warming.
By Sam Kornell, Miller-McCune Magazine. July 6, 2009.
Unemployed and on the Verge of Losing Everything: "I Don't Know How I'll Make It"
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Luz Guerra has already lost her job. Now she might lose her car, her home and her health insurance.
By Rachel Neumann, AlterNet. July 6, 2009.
High Noon in Honduras
World: The drama in Honduras has moved from the small, impoverished country to the international stage.
By Laura Carlsen, AlterNet. July 4, 2009.
Advertisement
Advertisement