ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the durability of France's commitment to and involvement in global competition. It argues that France cannot withdraw only slightly from global competition and that a radical withdrawal would entail too high a price in foreign-policy and security terms to be attractive. France exports a considerable fraction of what it produces and imports a considerable fraction of what it consumes. The broad-based openness of the French economy is hardly surprising. Institutional developments at the European and global levels help explain the economic openness of contemporary France. During the 1950s, France joined several European countries in forming the European Community. France has a long tradition of industrial policy. After World War II, France decided to participate actively in the global economy. Having chosen a global perspective primarily to guarantee national security, rather than economic prosperity, its commitment to global competition has remained intact despite the mediocrity of domestic economic conditions since the late 1970s.
