GENERALS DE GAULLE, DUMITRESCU AND HERUVIM, GRADUATES OF SAINT-CYR

A very important Romanian historical event took place on 14 May 1968 when General Charles de Gaulle, the president of The French Fifth Republic, visited Bucharest, an initiative stemming from this visionary head of state’s idea of a unified Europe stretching “from the Atlantic to the Urals’. Have you heard of Romanian generals Polihron Dumitrescu and Ioan Heruvim? Charles de Gaulle’s visit proved quite difficult to manage for the communist regime, one of the difficulties being the French general’s meeting with these two generals, former classmates from the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr. His itinerary included the cities of Craiova and Târgoviște because of these expectedly emotional meetings with Dumitrescu and Heruvim, the former having been de Gaulle’s class president, and the latter one of its most brilliant students, and the city of Cetatea Băniei where the French general performed an official military salute.

Macron's “European Project”: Four Years Later (French Plans and the Realities of the European Union)

The initiatives of large-scale reforms of the European Union to accelerate European integration and to achieve “European sovereignty” were one of the main topics of the presidential program of E. Macron. For the first time in the political history of the Fifth Republic, the future head of state synchronized the implementation of internal reforms in France with an ambitious “European project”. The article analyzes the progress of the implementation of the European program of Macron and examines the reasons which have not allowed to achieve the implementation of the plans. The author summarizes the preliminary results of the European policy of Paris, holding that the French leader's European initiatives were unrealistic since they did not sufficiently take into account the current complex realities and contradictions of the European Union, as well as the past negative experience of France in promoting the idea of creating a “Europe-Power”. A forecast is made about a possible new version of Macron's “E

French Colonialism and The Making of the Modern Sahel

French colonial rule played an important but not determinative role in making the modern Sahel. By the 1950s, the region was more integrated politically and infrastructurally than it would be in the decades that followed. At independence, the new governments of the Sahel featured identical, if parallel, political institutions modeled on those of the French Fifth Republic (1958–). They also shared a secular character, a military culture, a history of slavery, entrenched inequality, and labor migration, and the subordination—without integration—of Saharan societies to their southern neighbors. Yet, if colonialism contributed to making the modern Sahel in an institutional sense, it did not represent a profound epistemological break. Rather, longue durée internal dynamics continued to prevail. If any single event or phenomenon “made” the modern Sahel, it was postcolonial drought and its political effects rather than imperial domination.

Modern French Policy on the African Continent: Transformations of a Françafrique Model

This article focuses on the policy of France’s Fifth Republic on the African continent, primarily in the area of historical French influence formed during the colonial period. We analyze the conditions, prerequisites, and mechanisms for the development of cooperation between France and the African states, with reference to the implementation of France’s national interests. In this study, we aim to identify and generalize the models and methods of pursuing French national interests on the African continent, including in connection with the development of individual African states, as well as the impact of globalization.

The evolution of integration policy of Charles de Gaulle (mid 1950s – late 1960s)

This article traces the evolution of the Western European policy of the General Charles de Gaulle during his presidency. In the early 1950s, he willingly cooperated with the European countries in terms of creating the economic union; however, in the course of solution of decolonization issues and, namely the Algerian problem that constrained the implementation of the key vectors of state policy, the president began focused on advancing the concept of national mightiness of France and commitment to the principles of intergovernmental cooperation in the development of integration. Charles de Gaulle fought for the foundation of the political union “Europe of the Homelands”, in which France would be assigned a significant role. The article analyzes de Gaulle’s failures in negotiations with the “P5+1” countries, which once again demonstrated to the Europeans that building integration is a long and complex process that does not tolerate rapid decisions and requires the ability to compromise. Special attention is turned to the development of integration policy of the General Charles de Gaulle based on his formal speeches, correspondence, and memoirs. De Gaulle's efforts in the sphere of integration policy of the Fifth Republic yielded certain results. First and foremost, he was able to establish the superiority of national principles in addressing the general policy issues in the European Community. Secondly, he prevented the Great Britain from joining the Common Market, as from his opinion it was an economic and political competitor of France. Thirdly, de Gaulle strengthened the international reputation of France as the country that was at the dawn and in the lead of the integration processes in Europe.

Role of the Legion of Honour in the Political Life of France

In the XXI century, the French Republic remains one of the major economic and political partners of the Russian Federation. At the same time, one of the forces contributing to the internal stability of the Fifth Republic is the community of holders of state awards, united by official symbols around the idea of serving for the benefit of France, regardless of their own political beliefs. However, differences in the nature of award systems make it difficult for Russian statesmen to understand the true role of French order-bearers in political processes, the role of the Order itself in the life of France. The intuitive perception of this institution by Russian representatives is often limited or erroneous. Based on the analysis of information resources affiliated with the Order of the Legion of Honor, the author formulates a list of the main activities of its members. Understanding the nature of the participation of this organization in the political and social life of the Republic can have a significant impact on a certain «course correction» when interacting with foreign orderbearers. In addition, the presented conclusions can focus the attention of politicians in international affairs on institutions whose influence on domestic processes, although not obvious due to the difference in thesauri, is significant.

Economic and military potential of the French 5th Republic as an instrument of the state security policy

The state security policy is determined by internal and external, objective and subjective conditions. Its conduct is subordinated to the pursuit of specific goals and protection of the state's interests with the use of appropriately selected means at its disposal. The aim of the article is to answer the question whether the economic and military potential of the French Fifth Republic are the factors that determine the security policy of this state. While writing the article, the method of analyzing legal acts and the systemic method were used. The research conducted for this article shows that both the economic potential and the military factor significantly affect the directions of France's security policy. Nevertheless, the military factor, which until recently ranked first among all factors determining the choice of security policy, has now lost its importance in favor of regional cooperation in the field of security.