ABSTRACT
During the Cold War France formulated, perhaps with greater consistency than any other member of NATO, a clear conceptual framework for its security policy.1 This framework can be traced back to a specific understanding of international relations2-one might call it the realist paradigm-that in turn is firmly rooted in a political culture emphasizing the preeminence of nation-states and their sovereign rights. French security doctrine was organized around the core principle of decisional autonomy and the need for an independent defense capacity. Of course, this did not make military cooperation with other states impossible but rather limited its scope. Military integration, as in the military structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which France left in 1966, was considered politically illegitimate, because in the eyes of French policymakers it tended to dilute the member-states’ fundamental responsibility for the defense of their citizens.
