ABSTRACT
The French seem to have a love affair with nuclear technology. They rely on it more heavily than any other nation for their energy and security. They do not seem to share the same misgivings about nuclear weapons as the rest of the world, since they regard them as weapons which make war impossible. In contrast to most advanced democratic countries, nuclear policy does not play an important role in French domestic politics. By and large, public opinion is an irrelevant factor in the design of French nuclear policy. The submarine force has become the central component of the French nuclear deterrent, providing the most survivable basing for nuclear missiles. The modernization of the "Force Oceanique Strategique" has occurred at the expense of the other legs of the triad, in particular the land-based nuclear force. European integration is clearly more than the hope of a few dreamers like Monet and Schuman that it was after the second world war.
