The European Union in the International System: The Général and Europe

Résumé du document

In France as well as in European history, Général de Gaulle sits in a very special place, the place of legends and myths. Pierre Drouin said of him that he “is probably a greatest man dead than alive” . For the French popular opinion, de Gaulle was the one who liberated France from the German occupation, the one who came back from his political exile to deal with the Algerian situation. He was “ a shield against outside perils and risks of civil war” . Even today, de Gaulle keeps his aura: in 2005, he was named Greatest Frenchman of all times by a popular vote on a list of 100 French personalities.

The “myth” de Gaulle and the European integration
He was one of the most controversial man of his time, with his tendency "to always rebel against something ”, his hopes of grandeur for France, his “cult of independence” . Many analysts consider that this personal style influenced de Gaulle's foreign policy in general, and his European policy in particular. De Gaulle had a specific idea of Europe. He wanted to propose an alternative vision to the two blocks that emerged from the Cold War in Europe. In a press conference – a medium which de Gaulle was very fond of – in September 1960, De Gaulle described his vision of Europe: a Europe of “realities” instead of “dreams”. And for him, the “realities” were the States, the “pillars” on which Europe integration should be built. De Gaulle was not hostile to the European idea – he knew France could not play without it – but he was completely opposed to any transfer of sovereignty, any signs of supranationalism. The states were “the only entities who [could] give order and who [had] the authority to act” .

Extraits

[...] The European Union in the International System: The Général and Europe The Général and Europe In France as well as in European history, Général de Gaulle sits in a very special place, the place of legends and myths. Pierre Drouin said of him that he probably a greatest man dead than alive”[1]. For the French popular opinion, de Gaulle was the one who liberated France from the German occupation, the one who came back from his political exile to deal with the Algerian situation. [...]

[...] De Gaulle had to disregard his personal inclination to take “rational decisions” and make “concrete propositions”. This analysis “regards the issue-specific preferences of domestic interest groups as fundamental” [21]. The interest of studying de Gaulle with a different point of view is that it can challenge a historical discourse that had been surprisingly consistent, considering the controversial nature of the character. But Moravcsik is probably too radical in his approach. By opposing economics to geopolitics, he seems to forget the link between the two[22]. [...]

[...] European Integration Theory. Oxford University Press Internet resources European Navigator: http://www.ena.lu/ : - Interview of Professor Pierre Gerbet on Gaulle and the Common Market”. - Transcription of Charles de Gaulle Press Conference September 1960, taken from GAULLE, Charles de, Discours et messages. Tome III. Avec le renouveau (1958-1962). Plon p. 244-246 History Channel, Documentary on Charles de Gaulle http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=tdih_1221 Pierre Drouin, Qu'est-ce qui fait courir la France?. Plon p.83 Ibid Le plus grand Français de tous les temps, broadcast on March 2005 on national channel France 2. [...]

[...] (see Pierre Gerbet's intervention and Werth, op.cit. on the nuclear policy). Andrew Moravcsik. De Gaulle between Grain and Grandeur : The Political Economy of French European Community Policy, 1958-70 Journal of Cold War Studies, Spring and Fall Ibid. p.6 Dinan op.cit. argues that de Gaulle used the Fouchet framework for to institutionalise the Franco-German relationship Charles de Gaulle, Memoirs of Hope : Renewal and Endeavor, Simon and Schuster p.143. Found in Dinan op.cit. (p.44). Paul-Henri Spaack for instance explained in his Memoirs how a meeting in December 1962 between Macmillan and Kennedy about the integration of the British nuclear force in the NATO was seen as a “geopolitical treason” by de Gaulle and prompted his famous January press conference. [...]

[...] Problèmes et forces politiques de la France contemporaine. Fernand Nathan MORAVCSIK, Andrew. De Gaulle between Grain and Grandeur : The Political Economy of French European Community Policy, 1958-70 Journal of Cold War Studies, Spring and Fall NUGENT, Neill. The Government and Politics of the European Union. Duke University Press Durham STIRK, Peter and WEIGALL, David. The Origins and Development of the European Community. Leicester University Press STIRK, Peter. A History of European Integration since 1914. Pinter TINT, Herbert. French Foreign Policy since the Second World War. [...]