The French Connection: An Uncertain Factor in Soviet Relations with Western Europe

Abstract

France's long relationship with the Soviet Union has varied according to the political climate. The crucial factors in the French-Soviet relationship are the state of U.S.-Soviet affairs and Moscow's objectives in Western Europe. Mendras reviews the history of French-Soviet relations from the de Gaulle years. By the early 1970s, she argues, détente with the United States and the recognition of postwar borders in central Europe reduced the instrumentality and priority of France in Soviet policy. In the 1980s, as their relations with the United States deteriorated, the Soviets took a renewed interest in France. But the Socialist government in Paris, more critical of the USSR than were its predecessors, has developed a policy that the Soviets denigrate as “Europeanist” and “Atlantist” and no longer truly independent. Although recent events have made the French leadership more receptive to the Soviet Union, bilateral relations will remain essentially a diplomatic ritual.