Between the Bear and the Phoenix: The United States and the European Defense Community, 1950-54

Creswell, Michael H.

doi:10.1080/714005351

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite its traditional Gaullist foreign policy discourse, France has since 1945 relied on the American alliance for security (Schmitt 2017;Talmor and Selden 2017;Trachtenberg 2012). The American presence in Europe benefited France by keeping Soviet-Russian power at bay and ensuring that Germany remained benign (Creswell 2002;Soutou 2001). Although Berlin lacks actual military power, its large population, economy, and advanced industrial base offer the foundation for a potentially formidable military force.…”

Section: Preventing Chinese Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Do Middle Powers Project Forces in Distant Regions? The Case of France in the Indo-Pacific

Kerdodé,

Motin

2024

IJAPS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

France has steadily increased its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years. However, a middle power projecting forces far away represents an anomaly for neorealism, which generally expects non-great power states to focus their limited resources on their regional neighbourhood. This article proposes a new neorealist framework to explain why middle powers sometimes intervene in distant regions and tests it on the French case. Such interventions are likely if four conditions are met. First, the middle power must live in a relatively safe neighbourhood. Second, the distant region of interest must be open to power projection. Third, this region must have a potential hegemon that threatens to overturn the local balance of power. Fourth, economic benefits must offset the middle power’s cost of projecting forces there. This study helps explain French policy in the Indo-Pacific, fills a gap in neorealist theorising, and contributes to the literature on middle-power behaviour.

show abstract

Section: Preventing Chinese Hegemonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Do Middle Powers Project Forces in Distant Regions? The Case of France in the Indo-Pacific

Kerdodé,

Motin

2024

IJAPS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The State of the Field on Political Shocks: A Review of (Mostly) Quantitative Literature

Gordell

2023

Evidence-Based Approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Regional security cooperation against hegemonic threats: Theory and evidence from France and West Germany (1945–65)

Byun

2021

Eur. j. of int. secur.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why do some regional powers collectively threatened by a potential hegemon eagerly cooperate to ensure their security, while others appear reluctant to do so? I argue that robust security cooperation at the regional level is less likely when an unbalanced distribution of power exists between the prospective security partners. In such situations, regional security cooperation tends to be stunted by foot-dragging and obstructionism on the part of materially inferior states wary of facilitating the strategic expansion of neighbours with larger endowments of power resources, anticipating that much of the coalition's gains in military capabilities are likely to be achieved through an expansion of the materially superior neighbour's force levels and strategic flexibility. Evidence drawn from primary material and the latest historiography of France's postwar foreign policy towards West Germany provides considerable support for this argument. My findings offer important correctives to standard accounts of the origins of Western European security cooperation and suggest the need to rethink the difficulties the United States has encountered in promoting cooperation among local allies in key global regions.

show abstract

Between the Bear and the Phoenix: The United States and the European Defense Community, 1950-54

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Why Do Middle Powers Project Forces in Distant Regions? The Case of France in the Indo-Pacific

Why Do Middle Powers Project Forces in Distant Regions? The Case of France in the Indo-Pacific

The State of the Field on Political Shocks: A Review of (Mostly) Quantitative Literature

Regional security cooperation against hegemonic threats: Theory and evidence from France and West Germany (1945–65)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About