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LEGITIMIZING THE "REPUBLICAN MONARCH": A REEXAMINATION OF FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY IN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE, 1958-1960

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Date Issued:
2012
Abstract/Description:
This thesis focuses on the role foreign policy played in legitimizing the early French Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1960. I argue that President Charles de Gaulle employed foreign policy in the service of gaining public support for his new government and the new republic. Many historians have argued previously that his foreign policy of grandeur, as it came to be called, was used to recast international politics and France's role in them. My work diverges from these previous interpretations by arguing that Gaullist foreign policy served, in many instances, overarching domestic goals, not French international interests. I see foreign policy as inseparable from the broader domestic ambition to craft a persuasive narrative of renewal and national unity under Gaullist stewardship. In the process, my study puts de Gaulle's foreign policy into the context of his larger aspiration to precipitate constitutional reform and, thereafter, ensure popular support. De Gaulle exploited opportunities to use foreign policy in order to shape public opinion, both domestically and internationally. These efforts, as my research reflects, helped foster public support for the new regime and, by portraying national renewal, further discredited the preceding Fourth Republic.
Title: LEGITIMIZING THE "REPUBLICAN MONARCH": A REEXAMINATION OF FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY IN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE, 1958-1960.
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Name(s): Fedorka, Drew, Author
Lyons, Amelia, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: This thesis focuses on the role foreign policy played in legitimizing the early French Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1960. I argue that President Charles de Gaulle employed foreign policy in the service of gaining public support for his new government and the new republic. Many historians have argued previously that his foreign policy of grandeur, as it came to be called, was used to recast international politics and France's role in them. My work diverges from these previous interpretations by arguing that Gaullist foreign policy served, in many instances, overarching domestic goals, not French international interests. I see foreign policy as inseparable from the broader domestic ambition to craft a persuasive narrative of renewal and national unity under Gaullist stewardship. In the process, my study puts de Gaulle's foreign policy into the context of his larger aspiration to precipitate constitutional reform and, thereafter, ensure popular support. De Gaulle exploited opportunities to use foreign policy in order to shape public opinion, both domestically and internationally. These efforts, as my research reflects, helped foster public support for the new regime and, by portraying national renewal, further discredited the preceding Fourth Republic.
Identifier: CFH0004236 (IID), ucf:44906 (fedora)
Note(s): 2012-05-01
B.A.
Arts and Humanities, Dept. of History
Bachelors
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): France
Foreign Policy
Diplomacy
Charles de Gaulle
Fifth Republic
Atlantic Alliance
NATO
Grandeur
deGaulle
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004236
Restrictions on Access: public
Host Institution: UCF

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