Explaining France's NATO ‘normalisation’ under Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012)

Abstract

Shortly after coming to power in 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his willingness to ‘normalise’ France's relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). His aim was to reverse a central tenet of Gaullist foreign and security policy which, since General de Gaulle's 1966 decision to withdraw France from NATO's integrated military command, had relied on the country's ‘specific’ status in the Atlantic Alliance. While there had been unsuccessful attempts – under Presidents Francois Mitterrand in 1990–1991 and, most notably, Jacques Chirac in 1995–1997 – at such normalisation over the previous two decades, Sarkozy's move proved successful and, in 2009, France again became a fully integrated NATO member. Despite hints that he would ‘review’ this decision and perhaps reverse it or at least correct it, his successor, Francois Hollande, has decided to maintain the status quo. This article seeks to offer an explanation for Sarkozy's decision and to analyse why it was successfully carried out.