Download or read book France's New NATO Policy: Leveraging a Realignment of the Alliance?. written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: French president Nicolas Sarkozy entered office with the intention of fundamentally revitalizing his country following many years of stagnation, and in doing so he did not shrink from violating one of the long-standing taboos of French defense and security policy. Beginning in mid-2007, Sarkozy gave notice on several occasions that he intended to complete the process begun by his predecessors of reintegrating France into NATO's military structures and to normalize overall French relations with NATO. The move was officially announced on 11 March and consummated during the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of NATO's founding, held on 3-4 April 2009 in Strasbourg and Kehl, thus bringing to an end the special status that France had held to in the alliance since 1966. The special character of France's relationship to NATO had been aimed primarily at guaranteeing French independence and influence internationally and was not only an integral element of the country's national identity but also placed France in the role of the alliance's enfant terrible -- often the sole, unequivocal opponent of American dominance of Europe. "Speedy Sarko," as the unusually forceful and lively French president is often called, has broken with the conventions of French NATO policy in such a way as to divide the country's political establishment and place in doubt the Fifth Republic's broad political consensus on defense and security policy. The question is, just what does Sarkozy hope to achieve through such a striking change in policy? Has he joined the Atlanticists? Or does he hope to improve his chances of pursuing long-established French objectives in the alliance? To answer these questions, we must examine the complex strategic thinking on which France's normalization of relations with NATO rests. This in turn requires that we first assess the special position France has held in NATO.