Abstract
Abstract Valéry Giscard d’Estaing had the honesty to confess during his presidency that France was now a medium-sized power. This did not mean that it no longer had pretensions to grandeur. It fought hard to retain its permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations, struggled to ensure its hegemony in Europe, and proved both stubborn in relinquishing the last vestiges of its empire and remarkably inventive in perpetuating different forms of neocolonial power. Over time, however, many of these ambitions bore bitter fruit. When Soviet power collapsed, France found it increasingly difficult to stand up to the United States. The unification of Germany threatened its leading role in Europe and cooled the European fervour of many French people. In Africa the French lost their ability to arbitrate effectively, while within Francophone countries they gradually lost the initiative to a new rival, Canada.
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