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  • France and the Construction of Europe, 1944–2007: The Geopolitical Imperative
  • Vaughan Rogers
France and the Construction of Europe, 1944–2007: The Geopolitical Imperative. By Michael Sutton. New York and Oxford, Berghahn Books, 2007. xiv+ 366 pp. Hb £42.50.

The main theme of this book is the inextricable link between the objective of France’s governing elites to exercise a determining influence in the shaping of Europe as an economic and institutional entity since World War II and their wider aspiration to regain for France a position as a major actor in international affairs, following the humiliation and diplomatic marginality into which the country had descended as a result of that conflict. Considerable emphasis is placed on the role and legacy of De Gaulle and the continuity in the adherence of successive French governments to a conception of Europe, not as a proto-federal project, but as a ‘union of states’, in which the underlying principle has been to faire l’Europe sans défaire la France. Thus, French policy positions with regard to Europe, even in its more specifically economic manifestations, must not be considered purely in terms of the [End Page 374] objective to maximize economic gain, but construed from a geopolitical perspective, in which security issues have been paramount. In this regard, the twin policy imperatives have been the need to bind West and later a reunified Germany into European unity, while mitigating its potential for economic domination, combined with a mission to combat the threat of American hegemony in Europe. The book is divided into three parts, with a focus in the first and third parts on the French contribution to the European enterprise through the prism of the changing configuration of international relations and only the second devoted per se to French involvement in the economic liberalization of Europe during its evolution from ECSC to EU. The book is highly impressive in its range, integrating such issues as the impact of the Cuban missile crisis into its account of Franco-American relations and the implications for France’s position in Europe. It is also impressive in its command of intricate detail in the technical, economic sphere and in high-level negotiations, as well as in behind-the-scenes manoeuvres taking place in parallel to more overt diplomacy. One such instance is the discussion of the fascinating episode of tentative nuclear cooperation between the Élysée and the White House during the 1970s, which remained a closely guarded secret for a decade thereafter. Despite the emphasis on political factors, this is resolutely not a work of political science, to which Sutton has an unconcealed aversion, especially the neo-functionalist approach with its frequently criticized, but resilient, concept of spillover. The result is a somewhat ambiguous position with regard to theory. Although Sutton seems initially to eschew theorization, presenting his work as one of historical narrative, his narrative appears underpinned by implicit actor-centred, intergovernmentalist assumptions, with (dare one say it?) a hint of bounded rational choice. The rather disabused concluding account of French disaffection, by the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the imperceptible metamorphosis of Europe into an entity which appeared to differ markedly from French aspirations is doubtless partly attributable to the limited explanatory value of such ambivalence.

Vaughan Rogers
University of Edinburgh
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