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Author : V. Sokolov
Associate Professor, Journalism Department, Moscow State University of Culture and the Arts, Candi-
date of Science (History)
RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY has never thoroughly examined
the foreign policy doctrine of France under President Georges Pom-
pidou. This gap has been filled by a special research "The Foreign
Policy of France during Georges Pompidou's Presidency (1969-
1974)" carried out by Ye.A. Osipov under the auspices of the Insti-
tute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Having
relied on numerous sources for the first time used in an academic
research, the author provides a panoramic overview of Pompidou's
foreign policy activities. Osipov has painted in bright colors a detailed
political portrait of George Pompidou. According to the author's
mot juste, the latter's personality fancifully combined universal hu-
manitarian values of a teacher of literature and connoisseur of the French poetry with a prag-
matic approach of a Rothschild bank director.
Summarizing Ye. Osipov's study on the foreign policy of France during Pompidou's presidency,
we would like to underline the following:
- The foreign policy pursued by Pompidou became a strong connecting link between de Gaulle's
epoch and the subsequent periods;
- The initial foreign policy approach adopted by Pompidou aiming at priority development of
the European vector in a close contact (and on a preferential basis) with the United States, some-
what differed from the classical Gaullist conceptions. At the same time, a collapse of French-
American negotiations on the world financial system reform initiated complications in the
relations between Paris and Washington, while President Nixon's proposal on signing a new At-
lantic Charter only served to confirm France's reservations regarding a growth of the American
impact on the decision-making process within the EEC; with the passage of time, France re-
turned to a classical Gaullist pattern in its relations with the U.S.;
- France confirmed its former course in relations with the Soviet Union. The French side for
the first time spoke in favor of holding a conference on security and cooperation in Europe,
which was one of the key issues of Soviet foreign policy. Despite the fact that the 1970 Protocol
and the 1971 Principles of Cooperation could not be regarded as full-fledged interstate treaties,
they have become important landmarks in the history of détente and represented a "new step"
in Franco-Soviet relations;
- Pompidou's decision in favor of expanding the borders of the "united Europe" by admitting
to it the United Kingdom cannot be considered as a departure from the Gaullist principles, be-
cause this promoted the security of France's national interests, which is an essential component
of Gaullism. Stepping up political cooperation within the "united Europe" was largely an attempt
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Foreign Policy of Georges Pompidou