Strategic Studies in France : Plus Ça Change…
Strategic Studies in France : Plus ça Change… By Matthieu Chillaud French strategic studies are not sufficiently developed in comparison with our major partners. This situation bears unfavourably on the diversity of research and the scientific quality of such studies. It is absolutely necessary to give new impetus to this sector. White Paper on Defence and National Security (2008) In most countries, strategic studies1 are usually seen to be in a class of their own among fields of scholarship and research. Institutionalization assumes the form of think tanks, academic journals and associations. They are taught not only at military schools but also in more than a few universities. In addition, they are acknowledged in foreign affairs and defence ministries as a tool of central importance for thinking about peace, conflict and war. This is not always the case in France, however, where the status of strategic studies has historically fluctuated between official endorsement, or even occasionally promotion, by the State, and all-too-obvious disregard or disaffection – in spite of numerous reports by ad hoc committees all pleading for a more rational development of the field.2 Such lack of consistency may sound amazing for a country such as France, still displaying the trappings of great power status (nuclear arsenal, permanent seat on the UN Security Council, G8 and G20 membership, not to mention vestiges of a long-bygone colonial empire), yet unable to grant institutional permanence to a scholarly field which would add theoretical veneer to its strategic choices. True, that did not prevent it from developing a distinctive strategic doctrine, or from producing landmarks in the history of strategic thought, during what in retrospect looks like a golden age : the 1950s and 1960s, a time of strong (and varied) military commitments, in which French military thought prospered.
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