ABSTRACT
Strategic nuclear forces constitute the foundation of the French assertion that France's security problems have been separated from those of her allies through the creation of a French 'sanctuary.' France's potential participation in the forward battle would, in any case, be subordinated to the requirements of the national deterrent maneuver. France's participation in certain important NATO activities is balanced by nonparticipation in others, with the general rule of avoiding most of the more politically visible and more obviously military ones. French participation in naval exercises has been especially visible, perhaps because less politically sensitive. French governments have given various basic reasons for generally insisting on the principle of 'no automaticity,' with its twin, the option of nonbelligerency. Although French officials can scarcely contend that France's cultivation of a nonbelligerency option contributes to the robustness of the overall deterrent of the Atlantic Alliance, they have tended to argue that the very vagueness of French commitments and employment criteria promotes effective deterrence.
