France’s Pivotal Role

by W.A. Schmidt

 

One of the more remarkable features of the profound ongoing global changes is the pivotal and
indispensable leadership role that a mid-size country has carved out for itself. It has done so with
judiciousness, steadfastness and in its own idiosyncratic style. That country is France. Unlike the
other two potential candidates for strategic European leadership, the United Kingdom and
Germany, only France is at the heart of policy-making of the two critical challenges whose
resolutions will determine Europe’s future prosperity and security: the crisis of the euro and its
institutions, and the sorry state of Europe’s common defense. Moreover, of the three countries
France alone seems to truly grasp that Europe’s weight on the world stage hinges on the integral
nature of its external policies.

The United Kingdom is France’s indispensable European partner in defense matters. Only
France’s recent full reintegration into NATO and ever deeper military ties between the two
countries hold the promise of strengthening NATO’s ailing European pillar. The closest possible
coordination of their defense policies is also the sole hope of reducing Europe’s dependence on
U.S. military assets, and of attaining fairer burden-sharing within the alliance. France and the
United Kingdom, its close ally in the UN Security Council, usually see eye to eye when it comes
to limited military intervention for humanitarian reasons. However, the self-imposed limitations
of British policies vis-à-vis the European Union including but not limited to its absence from the
euro zone, is hampering its clout in matters other than defense. This makes the United Kingdom
a much more limited partner than France for outside powers when it comes to dealing with the
European Union as a whole.

The same holds true in the case of Germany regarding military matters. To be sure, it is France’s
key partner in monetary policy as well as other core issues of European integration. Both
countries can claim that the temptation to resort to beggar-thy-neighbor policies - potential
harbingers of worse things to come - has been entirely contained thanks to the elaborate
institutional framework of the EU. That it has not sufficiently evolved to deal more effectively
with the euro debt crisis does not alter the fact that without the euro (a French idea) the European
Union could well be faced with unprecedented and self-destructive currency wars among its
member states during these tough economic times. Despite Germany’s crucial role in resolving
the euro debt crisis, its contribution to a cohesive and common defense policy has been severely
lacking. It remains a military quantité négligeable that has further sidelined itself by its present
self-centered and visionless foreign policy.

The current preoccupation with the tectonic shifts, uncertainties and hardships in the realm of
economics should not distract us from recognizing some of the more encouraging developments
of our era. Few aspects of the unfolding 21st century have been more promising and more
reflective of an apparent leap in global awareness than the nascent but growing universal
recognition that our common humanity makes us all each other’s keepers. This manifests itself
for instance in the increasingly shared view that human development ought to be pursued
collaboratively, and that democratization and human rights ought to be playing central roles in
this joint endeavor. Additionally, it is also evident in a novel approach to tackling two of
humankind’s most deplorable shortcomings, namely the lack of prevention of atrocity crimes,
and the subsequent impunity for their perpetrators. The new norm of the Responsibility to
Protect, and the preceding creation of a legal regime of international criminal justice in the form
of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court are designed to end those two shameful
practices.

France has recently not shied away from upholding those principles but has put lives and treasure
at risk to live up to them. It did so recently to protect democratization in the Ivory Coast, and to
prevent mass atrocities in Libya, both times embedded in an UN-sanctioned framework. Whereas
the United States, the United Kingdom and France have been acting in close collaboration during
NATO’s successful Libya engagement, Germany’s abdication of responsibility in this case remains
stunning. Its refusal to back up the Responsibility to Protect by authorizing the necessary means was
immoral and unworthy of a major democratic power.

Likewise the United States’ refusal to join the International Criminal Court is unbecoming a
country that prides itself on being a beacon of hope for humankind. The fact that other permanent
members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China, do not seem to be committed to those
universal norms and values but often obstruct their realization outright is of no comfort. Not much
more reassuring (yet) are the attitudes of aspiring great powers such as India, Brazil and South
Africa regarding the responsibilities of the international community. The gap between their democratic
credentials at home and the often less than lukewarm commitment to human rights in their respective
foreign policies remains regrettable.

Which brings us back to France. Like other powers its foreign policy has at times not exactly
been without reproach. However, at this moment in time it is the only major country whose
foreign policy with regard to enlightened regional and global institution-building and forceful
engagement for democracy and human rights is worth emulating -- at least while it lasts. If more
countries were to follow its present example, the world could yet become a better place.