French Policy Toward NATO: Enhanced Selectivity, Vice Rapprochement: Strategic Studies Institute

The U.S. defense community enjoys unusually close bilateral ties with its French service counterparts. Additionally, as we have seen in the former Yugoslavia and most recently in Rwanda, France is very active in peace and humanitarian operations, which will likely increase the probability for future U.S.-French bilateral military cooperation. However, at the national level, and particularly in NATO fora, French objectives and actions often leave U.S. and other European allies perplexed. Consequently, a better understanding of internal motives behind French foreign policy, particularly toward NATO, is clearly warranted. The authors of this report explain how French policy toward NATO has changed since 1992. Importantly, they discuss how these changes have been effected. However, certain key elements of French external policy have not changed. In effect, therefore, the authors argue that while France may wish to cooperate with NATO, this does not imply that there will be a more cooperative French attitude toward the Alliance. This report meets an identified study requirement as established in the Institute's Strategic Challenge During Changing Times: A Prioritized Research Program, 1994. This report was supported with funding from the U.S. Air Force Academy's Institute for National Security Studies, for which the Strategic Studies Institute is grateful.