ABSTRACT
French foreign and defence policy has long been characterised by a concern for status and prestige, and on many occasions France has played, or attempted to play, a leading rôle in international, and especially European, affairs. Often original and creative, French policy has at times been successful and led to significant progress in, for example, Western European integration. At other times it has seemed to go against the grain of history and has failed or left France with policies which have been inconsistent and contradictory. Nowhere is the phrase l’exception française more appropriate than in the field of international affairs.
