Frédéric Charillon is Professor of Political Science at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris and the University of Auvergne
(This article is published in French only. Original title: 'Peut-il encore y avoir une politique étrangère de la France?')

Abstract

September 11 has had a profound effect on national foreign policies by activating a binary divide, but with intelligent design, of a new world order where the issue of support to the United States is the dividing line. In France the traditional distinction in matters of foreign policy made itself known first with Hubert Védrine, associating solidarity and criticism, and today with Dominique de Villepin, evolving towards the elaboration of  a kind of leadership on the international scene. This political voluntarism is experiencing restricted freedom to manoeuvre in national, European, and world forums. But it is possible to see, with the recent positions taken by Jacques Chirac, the foundations of a foreign policy appearing and a particularly French position being demarcated.