ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by examining the basic elements of French doctrine, with the focus on identifying the response to a central question: What political purposes are served by French nuclear forces? It looks at the external pressures that are challenging the credibility of the French deterrent and creating a need for change in French doctrine. French leaders identify the political purpose of nuclear weapons as the defense of French territory or, at most, of France's "vital interests." The central tension in French doctrine revolves around the traditional emphasis on protecting the national "sanctuary" with nuclear weapons and the growing recognition of the need to include West Germany in the French security concept. The central element of the French approach to nuclear weapons is to see them as fundamentally different from conventional weapons in that they pose the gravest questions of life and death. The basic political purpose of French nuclear forces is to ensure French independence.
