Mediterranean Quarterly 2007 18(4):1-16; DOI:10.1215/10474552-2007-023
Duke University Press
France, Europe, and the Mediterranean in a Sarkozy Presidency
Norman Bowen
Norman Bowen is associate professor of political science at California State University, East Bay and director of the university's international studies program. He lived in France for twenty years, where he taught at the American University of Paris.
Nicholas Sarkozy.s campaign documents and speeches reveal more continuity than rupture with past French foreign policy. The US will welcome his support for missile defense and possible unilateral action outside of the UN. However, like previous French presidents, Sarkozy extolled multipolarity and independent European Union military capacity while opposing a global role for NATO. He called for protection against the negative impacts of globalization and promoted EU.wide industrial .champions.. He opposed Turkey.s entry into the EU on cultural and antiterrorist grounds. Instead, he proposed to create a new Mediterranean Union. Anti.immigrant policies at home combined with an unapologetic view of French colonialism make it unlikely that Sarkozy will be able to revive the EU.s Mediterranean initiative and with it France.s fading leadership in North Africa.

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Copyright 2007 by Mediterranean Affairs, Inc.