ABSTRACT
If we look generally for a moment at France’s more conflictual and ideological days, it is clear that France’s place in the world and relations with other countries played an important part in maintaining this state of affairs. In a general sense, France was for many centuries at the geographical, cultural and diplomatic centre of a highly volatile international order, a position which often affected domestic affairs. To mention but the most obvious examples of the effect of international turmoil on domestic politics, the 1871 Commune of Paris (hailed by Karl Marx as the first proletarian revolution) was closely linked with the Franco-Prussian war; the formation of the PCF with both the First World War and the Russian Revolution; both the growth of the PCF and the popularity of de Gaulle with the Second World War; the governmental and extra-governmental instability of the Fourth Republic and the beginning of the Fifth Republic with colonial wars and decolonization. Finally, even the events of May 1968 were linked with foreign relations to the extent that one of the causes of the events was neglect by de Gaulle of certain important domestic considerations in favour of a grandiose foreign policy. After decolonization, however, foreign and, particularly, defence policy were among the first areas of near consensus among the main political parties and pointed the way towards a future, more ‘modern7, political system in general. Another factor to take into account is that, since 1945, western Europe has in general become a more stable political entity, in part because of the construction and development of the European Union, and this has eased France’s foreign relations within Europe, a process which has had a direct effect on the domestic political scene.
