Humanity's Soldier: France and International Security, 1919-2001

by David Chuter

Overview

French security policy has posed a puzzle to many people outside France, including politicians and even defense specialists such as the author, who took time off from his administrative position in Whitehall in order to study French thinking about security in detail. As with many other studies, he takes as his point of departure the traumatic defeat of 1940 but argues that the origins of current French policy are grounded in events and ideas that go back hundreds of years. They are ideas that are scarcely known or often misinterpreted in the Anglo-Saxon world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571818935
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	01/01/1997
Series:	Contemporary France , #1
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1450L (what's this?)

About the Author

David Chuter works at the Ministry of Defence, London

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Political Truth and Symbolic Politics
Chapter 2. The Universal Mission
Chapter 3. Grandeur and Misery
Chapter 4. Errors Not to Be Repeated
Chapter 5. Death and the Soul
Chapter 6. The Far Side of Despair
Chapter 7. Weakness and Fear
Chapter 8. The Rebels and the Sovereign
Chapter 9. Charles the Great and the God-King

Conclusion: The past and the Future

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"... attractively written and grounded in a wide range of secondary sources."  · The International History Review

From the Publisher

A study detailing the historical, cultural and philosophical origins of French security policy since 1919. Chuter (Ministry of Defence, London) explains how and why security policy has developed since that time, arguing that the origins of current policy lie even further back in history and, through a cultural network of myths and symbolisms, continues to influence how the French perceive contemporary events<-->often to the bewilderment of Anglo-Saxon countries with a vastly different set of experiences. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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