The Great War and the Politics of National Security in France
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Date
2013-04-05
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Publisher
Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Abstract
The talk will be based on the forthcoming monograph "Beyond the Balance of Power: France and the politics of national security in the era of the First World War." The aim will be to reconsider the impact of World War I on contending conceptions of security in France. The argument will be that there were two general currents of thought on the question of security before 1914. The dominant current was traditional in character and based on long-standing assumptions about the balance of power and the need for exclusive alliances and strategic preponderance. The alternative conception was internationalist in inspiration and reflected the central role of law in French political culture. It aimed at achieving security through the creation of an international regime of public law backed up by the automatic use of collective force. The tremendous sacrifices demanded of the French nation during the Great War created political space for the internationalist alternative. After 1917 French national security policy was influenced in important respects by the internationalist approach to peace and security. This influence has been missed almost entirely by several generations of historians who have tended overwhelmingly to characterize French policy as inspired by the "realist" assumptions of power politics.
Description
The Ohio State University Mershon Center for International Security Studies
The media can be accessed here: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/Mershon13/040513.mp4
The media can be accessed here: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/Mershon13/040513.mp4
Keywords
France, National Security