{"id":79831,"date":"2023-05-19T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T01:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=79831"},"modified":"2023-05-19T16:18:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T06:18:18","slug":"macrons-gaullist-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/macrons-gaullist-foreign-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron\u2019s Gaullist foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanised the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. But last month, French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Beijing, where he declared<\/a> that, on sensitive matters like Taiwan, Europe shouldn\u2019t simply follow America\u2019s lead. The United States was not pleased<\/a>, but nor should it have been surprised.<\/p>\n

Like most French politicians<\/a>\u2014from Marine Le Pen on the far right to Jean-Luc Melenchon on the far left\u2014Macron is a Gaullist. Theirs is a shared sensibility, rather than a clearly defined ideology. Nor is it simply French anti-Americanism, as many believe. Instead, it is best described as a national sentiment, not unlike Peronism in Argentina, reflecting the \u2018spiritual\u2019 legacy of General Charles de Gaulle.<\/p>\n

That legacy is captured by Winston Churchill\u2019s description of the general: when de Gaulle fled to London<\/a> in June 1940, a few days after France fell to Nazi Germany, Churchill declared that he carried with him \u2018the honour of France<\/a>\u2019. It is also exemplified by de Gaulle\u2019s insistence\u2014to the frustration of his Anglo-American benefactors\u2014that France be treated as an equal ally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fifth Republic<\/a>, which de Gaulle established in 1958, was supposed to revitalise France\u2019s sense of purpose. He expected that the renewed France\u2014a self-reliant, sovereign nation-state\u2014would be an influential member of the Western alliance, not a subordinate to the US. To lead this new France, he created a presidency so powerful<\/a> that it might as well have been a monarchy.<\/p>\n

It is in this tradition that Macron takes bold, unilateral and sometimes controversial steps, both at home\u2014for example, bypassing the National Assembly<\/a> to implement an unpopular pension reform\u2014and abroad. As de Gaulle probably would have, Macron has long urged Europe to stop outsourcing its security to the Americans and pursue \u2018strategic autonomy<\/a>\u2019 instead.<\/p>\n

This drive was intensified during Donald Trump\u2019s presidency, when Macron declared<\/a> that NATO was experiencing \u2018brain death\u2019 and warned that Europe could remain \u2018in control of [its] own destiny\u2019 only if it started thinking of itself as a geopolitical power. But, even with Trump\u2019s capriciousness exposing the risks of relying on the US, few Europeans were ready to take the leap towards strategic autonomy, though many paid lip service to the concept.<\/p>\n

It took the Ukraine war to spur Europe finally to start investing in its own military capabilities. One might expect the US, which has long complained<\/a> about European countries\u2019 refusal to pay more for their own defence, to welcome this shift. But the expansion of European defence capabilities and Europe\u2019s pursuit of strategic sovereignty have left the US apprehensive.<\/p>\n

Macron has also challenged the US in other areas. Though he welcomed the election of Joe Biden, who pledged to repair the damage<\/a> to transatlantic relations caused by Trump, Macron didn\u2019t hesitate<\/a> to criticise Biden\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act, which includes massive subsidies for US companies at the expense of their European counterparts. In his (not traditionally Gaullist) view, free trade is essential<\/a> to buttress the democratic front against the authoritarian Russia\u2013China axis.<\/p>\n

Macron also took issue<\/a> with Biden\u2019s decision to establish the AUKUS<\/a> security and technology pact with Australia and the United Kingdom. Not only did the secretive negotiations exclude Europe; the deal caused Australia to scrap<\/a> a lucrative submarine contract with France.<\/p>\n

But Macron\u2019s controversial comments on Taiwan are not merely retaliation against the US for disregarding France\u2019s interests. The Indo-Pacific contains<\/a> 93% of France\u2019s exclusive economic zone and is home to 1.5 million French citizens. This demands an independent policy toward the region.<\/p>\n

Of course, France\u2014like other European powers\u2014still considers the transatlantic alliance vital to its interests. But, in the Gaullist tradition, it sees itself as an equal and a leader, not a subordinate. In 2021, France led a naval drill<\/a> with the Quad countries: Australia, India, Japan and the US. In March, it participated in the largest military exercise<\/a> with allied forces in decades. A few weeks later, the EU and the US conducted a joint naval exercise<\/a> in the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that Macron shares America\u2019s desire to contain China. That\u2019s why France is upgrading its operational capabilities in the Indo-Pacific and increasing its coordination with partners such as Japan and India. But Macron refuses to view China\u2019s systemic rivalry with the West in zero-sum terms. Cooperation with the US is essential, but so is more open-minded diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, including towards China.<\/p>\n

One can think of worse approaches to the region. Considering America\u2019s record of waging futile wars and oscillating between cooperation and isolationism, Macron\u2019s variant of Gaullism may be the wisest option available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanised the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. But last month, French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Beijing, where …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":79837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[325,291,56,821,2070],"class_list":["post-79831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-indo-pacific","tag-security-cooperation","tag-us-foreign-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMacron\u2019s Gaullist foreign policy | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/macrons-gaullist-foreign-policy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Macron\u2019s Gaullist foreign policy | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanised the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. 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