ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that France’s new partnership with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should be understood in the context of international institution building for humanitarian crisis management, which its decision makers found necessary through Bosnia. It reviews general characteristics of French diplomacy and contemplates how they were reflected even after the end of the Cold War. The chapter explores French reaction to the crisis in the Balkans by focusing upon the rise of bottom-up pressure from French domestic society. It shows that how France’s historic turn to NATO was made by exploring the stagnation of the international mediation efforts in the Balkans and the criticisms against the government. The chapter discusses the consolidation of the new French partnership with NATO, while clarifying that its reconciliation was intended to build an international system for conflict management. It also shows how normative influence is injected into international organizations.
