ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to analyze French reactions to the shifting European geostrategic landscape after 1989. It describes a striking continuity in French security policy, as profoundly altered international circumstances failed to alter fundamental Gaullist policy choices. The chapter analyzes the way in which a marked increase in French interest in the idea of European defense cooperation failed to translate itself into any real practical progress, leaving France somewhat marginalized in the emerging security debate. Successive presidents after de Gaulle remained broadly faithful to his legacy. Under Pompidou, the tension between professions of faith in, and loyalty to, the Atlantic Alliance appeared in stark contrast to parallel declarations stressing France's autonomy of decision and strict national independence in the military sphere. A desire for increased European solidarity on questions of defense and security also stemmed from the belief that sheer distance made security interests of the United States fundamentally different from those of France or, indeed, any of its European allies.
