Foreign Relations of France: In the 19th century France built a new
French colonial empire second only to the
British Empire. It was humiliated in the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, which marked the rise of Germany to dominance in Europe. France allied with Great Britain and Russia and was on the winning side of the
First World War. If it was initially easily defeated early in the
Second World War,
Free France, through its Free French Forces and the
Resistance, continued to fight against the
Axis powers as an
Allied nation and was ultimately considered one of the victors of the war, as the allocation of an French
occupations zone in Germany and
West Berlin testifies, as well as the status of permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council. It fought losing colonial wars in
Indochina (ending in 1954) and
Algeria (ending in 1962). The Fourth Republic collapsed and the Fifth Republic began in 1958 to the present. Under
Charles De Gaulle it tried to block American and British influence on the European community. Since 1945, France has been a founding member of the
United Nations, of
NATO, and of the
European Coal and Steel Community (the
European Union's predecessor). As a charter member of the United Nations, France holds one of the permanent seats in the
Security Council and is a member of most of its
specialized and related agencies.
France is also a founding member of the
Union for the Mediterranean and the
La Francophonie and plays a key role, both in regional and in international affairs.
Charles de Gaulle: De Gaulle's foreign policy was centered around an
attempt to limit the power and influence of both superpowers, and at the same time
increase France's international prestige. De Gaulle hoped to move France from being a follower of the United States to becoming the leading nation of a large group of non-aligned countries. The nations de Gaulle looked at as potential participants in this group were those in France's traditional spheres of influence: Africa and the Middle East. The former French colonies in eastern and northern Africa were quite agreeable to these close relations with France. These nations had close economic and cultural ties to France, and they also had few other suitors amongst the major powers. This new orientation of French foreign policy also appealed strongly to the leaders of the Arab nations. None of them wanted to be dominated by either of the superpowers, and they supported France's policy of trying to balance the US and the
USSR and to prevent either from becoming dominant in the region. The Middle Eastern leaders wanted to be free to pursue their own goals and objectives, and did not want to be chained to either alliance bloc. De Gaulle hoped to use this common foundation to build strong relations between the nations. He also hoped that good relations would improve France's trade with the region. De Gaulle also imagined that these allies would look up to the more powerful French nation, and would look to it in leadership in matters of foreign policy.
The end of the
Algerian conflict in 1962 accomplished much in this regard. France could not portray itself as a leader of the oppressed nations of the world if it still was enforcing its colonial rule upon another nation. The battle against the Muslim separatists that France waged in favour of the minority of white settlers was an extremely unpopular one throughout the Muslim world. With the conflict raging it would have been close to impossible for France to have had positive relations with the nations of the Middle East. The Middle Eastern support for the
FLN guerillas was another strain on relations that the end of the conflict removed. Most of the financial and material support for the FLN had come from the nations of the Middle East and North Africa. This was especially true of Nasser's Egypt, which had long supported the separatists. Egypt is also the most direct example of improved relations after the end of hostilities. The end of the war brought an immediate thaw to Franco-Egyptian relations, Egypt ended the trial of four French officers accused of espionage, and France ended its
trade embargo against Egypt.
In 1967 de Gaulle completely overturned France's Israel policy. De Gaulle and his ministers reacted very harshly to Israel's actions in the
Six-Day War. The French government and de Gaulle condemned Israel's treatment of refugees, warned that it was a mistake to occupy the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip, and also refused to recognize the Israeli control of
Jerusalem. The French government continued to criticize Israel after the war and de Gaulle spoke out against other Israeli actions, such as the operations against the
Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon. France began to use its veto power to oppose Israel in the UN, and France sided with the Arab states on almost all issues brought to the international body. Most importantly of all, however, de Gaulle's government imposed an arms embargo on the Israeli state. The embargo was in fact applied to all the combatants, but very soon France began selling weaponry to the Arab states again. As early as 1970 France sold Libya a hundred
Dassault Mirage fighter jets. However, after 1967 France continued to support Israel's
right to exist, as well as Israel's many preferential agreements with France and the
European Economic Community.
Emmanuel Macron, 2017+
Sophie Meunier in 2017 ponders whether France is still relevant in world affairs:
France does not have as much relative global clout as it used to. Decolonization ... diminished France’s territorial holdings and therefore its influence. Other countries acquired nuclear weapons and built up their armies. The message of “universal” values carried by French foreign policy has encountered much resistance, as other countries have developed following a different political trajectory than the one preached by France. By the 1990s, the country had become, in the words of Stanley Hoffmann, an “ordinary power, neither a basket case nor a challenger.” Public opinion, especially in the United States, no longer sees France as an essential power. The last time that its foreign policy put France back in the world spotlight was at the outset of the Iraq intervention...[with] France’s refusal to join the US-led coalition....In reality, however, France is still a highly relevant power in world affairs....France is a country of major military importance nowadays...., France also showed it mattered in world environmental affairs with....the Paris Agreement, a global accord to reduce carbon emissions. The election of DJT in 2016 may reinforce demands for France to step in and lead global environmental governance if the US disengages, as the new president has promised, from a variety of policies.
Polls indicate that American president
Barack Obama was highly popular in France, but DJT has been extremely unpopular [true of most "sane" nations].
Natalie Nougayrède argues:
Yet behind this widespread revulsion lies a diplomatic opportunity. With the United States looking inward and DJT having torn up the traditional foreign policy rule book...Macron, is seeking to reinvigorate the European project as a way of restoring French leadership. French power is no substitute for American power, of course. But with the United States’ image, global role, and reliability newly uncertain, Europeans feel a void that someone must fill—and France thinks it should at least try to do just that.
In July 2019, the UN ambassadors from 22 nations, including France, signed a joint letter to the
UNHRC condemning
China’s mistreatment of the
Uyghurs as well as its mistreatment of other minority groups, urging the Chinese government to close the
Xinjiang re-education camps.
