French foreign and security challenges after the Paris terrorist attacks

ABSTRACT

The Paris terrorist attacks in January and November 2015 have changed the relationship between French society and security. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, the assumption that France is experiencing a new form of territorial war is explicit in the public debate. It has reinforced the strong conviction among the French politicians and diplomats that security requires close cooperation with the USA and a renouncement of the Gaullist paradigm of exceptionalism. This paper analyses why the terrorist attacks have been perceived in France as a form of territorial war. Second, it explains why terrorism contributes to a growing mistrust of the French public vis-à-vis the European Union. Finally, it shows the reasons but also the limits of French military activism outside Europe, in close connection with the US-led strategy.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Christian Lequesne is a professor at the Department of Political Science of Sciences Po, Paris. He is also a senior research fellow at the Centre de Recherches Internationales (CERI). He has published extensively on EU politics. His current research is devoted to French diplomatic practices. He is preparing a book Ethnographie du Quai d’Orsay. Les pratiques des diplomates français, to be published in 2017 with the Presses du CNRS, Paris.

Notes

1. Eleven persons died during the January attacks and 130 during the November attacks. The November attacks created the highest number of casualties on the French territory since the Second World War.

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