ABSTRACT
France continues to stake out a staunchly independent policy on defense and security. This constancy aside, there are surprisingly few similarities with the past, for France's security policy, no less than that of other states, is in a period of major transformation. Three fallacies currently characterize the analysis of French reactions to the ending of the Cold War. These are: that French diplomacy was taken by surprise and thrown into panic, especially in respect of Germany; that as a general rule, French reactions were dominated by short-term concerns; and that as a result French policy demonstrated neither a vision nor anything resembling a plan of action. France proved extremely reluctant to go beyond the traditional frameworks of European security and make of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe a collective-security organization, as many in Germany were demanding it become.
