The Impact of Frances Abandonment of Gaullism on Its National Defense Policy

Abstract

France has long regarded Gaullism as its national policy, and it has a strong independent color in politics, military and economy. In the early 2000s, French President Nicolas Sarkozy abandoned the Gaullist policy. A few years later, President Macron has shown signs of a return to Gaullism with wobbly attitude. This paper will analyze the impact of France's abandonment of de Gaullism on its national defense policy at the beginning of the 21st century from the perspective of changes in France's domestic and world situations, and discuss the international impact of this policy change. Studying this issue is conducive to making a certain degree of prediction and judgment on France's recent strategic layout of China and Russia in the context of the current international situation. This paper will use the literature survey method to find information on French policy changes, and use the data collection method to count the French military spending in the past few decades and visualize it for phased analysis of its defense policy. In addition, the conclusion part of this paper creatively links the change of French defense policy with world multi-polarization, and analyzes its impact on world multi-polarization and domestic military industry. The changes in the defense policy of France, an important European power, during a critical period in its history can also provide some constructive inspiration for China.