Chapters

Abstract - How has the Sino-American competition transformed France's strategic relationship with the United States and NATO? This chapter shows that the Sino-American rivalry has strengthened and accelerated the political position defended by French representatives in favor of institutional changes reflected by the notions of ‘strategic autonomy’ and ‘European sovereignty’. These notions reflect the French ambition to acquire strategic capabilities specific to European states in order to limit their military, industrial and technological dependence on the great powers. Using a public policy analysis approach, this reconfiguration of the alliance strategy is explained by the ‘political work’ undertaken by French representatives. The concept of ‘political work’ is embedded in a constructivist and sociological neo-institutionalist theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of actors. This approach is used to analyze the presidency of Emmanuel Macron during the 2017-2022 period taken as a case study. In this political work to activate institutional change, Macron and his political-military entourage faced resistance from France's European allies, who feared strategic isolation from the United States. The political difficulties France faced in implementing European strategic autonomy resulted less from a lack of leadership than from a lack of legitimacy.

Chapter first line - New approaches to public management, “best value for money”, market liberalization, budgetary constraints and so forth: until the 1970s, these market regulations played no part in the formulation and implementation of arms policy in Europe. At the national level, budget costs were a peripheral consideration (Genieys and Michel 2006) in an arms policy “through which a state made sure of its future ability to equip itself with arms” (Hoeffler 2013: 642). At the European level, states co-operated in order to produce the “best” possible equipment. Cutting production costs was a secondary goal  (DeVore and Weiss 2014). However, from the 1980s onwards, market regulations entered into European arms policy. For some, this drive towards liberalization produced different effects in different states (Joana and Mérand 2014; DeVore 2015); for others...