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Analysis: Sarkozy and the World

Council on Foreign Relations

May 7, 2007
Prepared by: Michael Moran

France’s presidential election focused little on world affairs. The man who emerged victorious, Nicolas Sarkozy, won his mandate mainly from domestic economic and social considerations (Times of London). Even so, world leaders and the media alike are eyeing Sarkozy as a leader who may, in his own words, bring a “rupture” with the traditional attitudes that for decades have dominated French foreign policy.

Interestingly, virtually none of this analysis can be traced to anything the candidate has promised to do while in office. His victory speech (BBC) contained plenty of promises, to be sure. But on topics where France has asserted itself most forcefully in recent years—Africa, for instance, and Lebanon, and ties with the United States—his rhetoric sounds familiarly Gallic. In an “appeal to our American friends,” Sarkozy asserts “that friendship means accepting that your friends may think differently and that a great nation such as the United States has a duty not to put obstacles in the way of the fight against global warming, but on the contrary to take the lead in this fight.” Hardly the talk of the “French neo-con” his domestic foes portrayed.

In the United States, at least, the optimism that Sarkozy somehow will reinvigorate French foreign policy and vastly improve ties with Washington appears to be based on pundits’ estimates of his character rather than any concrete policy changes in the offing. The conservative New York Sun opines that “the president-elect's default position on international affairs not only isn’t anti-American, but could indeed be called pro-American. Another conservative publication, the National Review, believes Sarkozy’s victory even holds out hope for the GOP in 2008.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.