Home

CCSU Theses & Dissertations

What is France's role within the European Union and the world today? How will it be affected if...

Reference URL

Add tags

Comment

Rate

Save to favorites

To link to this object, paste this link in email, IM or document
To embed this object, paste this HTML in website

What is France's role within the European Union and the world today? How will it be affected if and when the European Union becomes more politically integrated?

View Description

small (250x250 max)

medium (500x500 max)

Large

Extra Large

large ( > 500x500)

Full Resolution

This item is restricted to only allow viewing of the metadata.

you wish to report:

Your comment:

Your Name:

...

Identifier	Thesis 1489
Author	Elissetche, Marina.
Title	What is France's role within the European Union and the world today? How will it be affected if and when the European Union becomes more politically integrated?
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date of Publication	1998
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Abstract	Charles de Gaulle, who knew his people well, once said: "Every Frenchman wants to benefit from one or several privileges. It is his way of affirming his passion for equality". Charles de Gaulle understood what his people were like. From the times of the French revolution in 1789, French people developed a passion for equality that rivaled that of the American Revolution. But before 1789, during the Ancien Regime, France was an kingdom accustomed to privileges, and the nobility especially enjoyed an affluent way of life. French was the international diplomatic language. The French had become accustomed to certain privileges as a country. French culture, cuisine, beaux arts, and haute couture was world renown. During World War II, the French almost lost everything. The Nazi regime had taken over almost all of France and set up a puppet regime known as the Vichy regime. But many French continued to resist in secret. All they lacked was a leader. The French resistance had only one hope, Charles de Gaulle. He was considered France. He was the hope and the pride of the French. He understood that France needed a leader, and he traveled to London where he called on all French resistance to fight. He was heard by the Free French outside of France, as well as French communists within France. He became the sole representative of France. Because of this, France was able to survive. Now, in this new era of economic geopolitical blocks and strong international institutions, France again has had to call up its strengths to lead itself into this new era, as one of the political and economic leaders of the European Union, France has had to change its political and economic attitudes. It has become a member of many international institutions because this is now necessary, almost required, to be part of the international scene. But France had and still has trouble defining its role in the European Union and beyond. It does not have the prestige it was accustomed to having before World War II. From the European Union to NATO, France is trying to find the role it should play politically and economically but it may have a long way to go and only a short time to do it in. Are things, economically or otherwise, going as President Charles Chirac would like and are French people beginning to weary of all the drastic changes that are being taken? How can the French president prove to his people that all the "pain" of change felt now will be worth it as France enters the European Monetary Union, and is France ready far the next step after the European Monetary Union? Has France found its role within the EU and the world and will it be ready for further political integration after the EMU is successful? To explore these topics further, it is necessary to discuss France within a few contexts: within the European Union, including its relationship with Germany, the French relationship with regions outside of the European Union, and French ambitions in a global environment. Can France become a more important factor in the world? Is this possible at all? France has enjoyed a strong role within the European Union. It has historically led in the development to what is the modem day European Union. From the European Steel and Coal Community to the European Union, France has been one of the leading countries in the birth and integration process in Europe. This is true not only due to its diplomacy tactics but also because of its vision of a future integrated Europe that would avoid European wars like those that had occurred in this century. France wants to see a broadening of the sphere of influence of the European Union, and at the same time, it wants to keep its national and international objectives attainable. France, as a country, is very nationalistic, but it is not the only country to be like this. If the European Union were to become more politically integrated in a community where each member country would become rather like a member state, France may have a hard time adjusting. It would be in favor of the enlarged influence that it would have as part of the EU within the international community, and the French people could become accustomed, with some pain, to have to follow a larger European Union agenda. This agenda would be about European Union politics, not specifically French politics, which would need to take a back seat. France would need to find a new goal to keep its international prestige at a level that it was accustomed to. The beginnings of French cooperation with its Western European allies after World War II began with the steel and coal community between France and five other European countries, including Germany. Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, was the principal organizer. He proposed to create a steel and coal community because steel and coal were the two main industries for economic prosperity at the time. If these two industries were united, the French could revive their capacities after the war. France had to include Germany in the community because "Traditionally Germany had acted as the power-house, or fly-wheel...of the European economy. This basic truth...was as valid in the 1940s as at any other time. Revive Germany, revive Europe". Jean Monnet, the principle negotiator for the French, believed he could build "on a peaceful Europe through the Schuman Plan". The steel and coal alliance promoted European integration and would be a major step toward progress and stabilizing Western Europe. In 1951, the German Federal Republic, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signed the treaty for the ESCC. After this first step, European integration progressed. In 1957, the six original countries that had formed the ESCC signed the treaties of Rome creating the European Economic Community. The EEC aimed "at a progressive customs' union, becoming an economic union starting in 1970", the next major step toward integration. These first associations were an example of how the European community would continue to work together to become what it is today. The Schuman plan succeeded, balancing German power with the rest of Western Europe through the European Coal and Steel Community, seen as the predecessor of the European Community.
Notes	Thesis advisor: Gavro Altman.; "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in International Studies."; M.S.,Central Connecticut State University,1998; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-72).
Subject	European Union--France. France--Foreign relations--20th century.
Department	Department of Political Science
Advisor	Altman, Gavro
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Software	System requirements: PC and World Wide Web browser.
Language	eng
OCLC number	40152556
Rating

What is France's role within the European Union and the world today? How will it be affected if and when the European Union becomes more politically integrated?

Description

Tags

Comments