Part of Simon Serfaty’s article made me think about which U.S. beliefs are fed or supported by certain kinds of anti-French sentiment. Serfaty suggests that francophobia in the U.S. implies that “were it not for the French there would be no objection to the United States in Europe.” I agree with his analysis – France makes a convenient enemy for the U.S. because it is a country that is prominent in international affairs, but ultimately doesn’t threaten our security. It’s comforting to pretend France is the main opponent of our foreign policy, because while the French might disagree with our choices, they don’t wish us harm and they don’t have a huge stake in the outcome. The same cannot be said for other parts of the world, especially those that have been negatively affected by U.S. foreign policy. Focusing on France lets U.S. citizens feel angry that our country’s actions are being questioned without having to seriously address the critiques, consider concrete threats to the U.S., or ask if some countries have legitimate grievances.
The U.S. can also hold France up as proof that U.S. multiculturalism and globalization are superior forces, despite French worries about the consequences of lack of assimilation and an Americanized mass culture. Sophie Meunier brought these issues up in her article. I think a lot of people in the U.S. believe the concept of “survival of the fittest” applies to culture and social practices. If something is taking over, this is a sign that it is inherently superior or of more value. Of course, this is not necessarily true: for example, Western-style diets are gaining popularity all over the world despite the fact that they are often less healthy than indigenous ones. Still, we see the popularity of American culture in France as proof that resistance is futile.
Finally, as Meunier notes, demonizing France for its opposition to our foreign policy serves certain purposes in the U.S. domestic context. People who might agree with French criticisms are more easily painted as unpatriotic and dismissed. This reinforces the idea that the world can be seen in black-and-white terms, and people are either with the U.S. or against it.
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It is interesting that you call France a convenient enemy for the US. I had never looked at it like that and it occurred to me that maybe they both France and the US play reciprocal roles of "convenient enemies." A prominent anti-American attitude in France is the idea that the US is a liberal imperialist. Anti-Americanism is sort of a scapegoat for current French economic problems. For example, the high unemployment in France is not directly blamed on the US but on liberalization especially labor liberalization (see immigration) and globalization of which the US is the ultimate incarnation as well as on the EU which is an American project by some aspects. Since France's economy/society has been in crisis there has been a stronger temptation to blame it on outside forces. This was manifested in the rejection of the EU constitution, for example. (In this instance it could mean that anti-Americanism was fueling nationalism rather than Europeanism as one of the readings suggested.) America and its liberalism and globalization are a convenient enemy for France in order to have something to blame for their current troubles. Like for the US, this scapegoating is near politically costless.
To continue on the France theme: Something that I felt was unclear in a lot of what we read and what we talked about in class was the idea of French Grandeur and Nationalism in France. It is important to see the popular attitudes that underlay the policies. Nationalism is extremely unpopular in France and any show of patriotism is almost immediately associated with the FN who has high jacked nationalism politically. Jeanne d’Arc and other patriotic figures are figures of the FN. Any French flag has to be beside an EU flag and any reference to France’s future grandeur in the world is always through Europe. My French cousin who was appalled to find out that my father had an “FR” sticker on his car was reassured when she saw that the FR was surrounded by the circle of EU stars. The majority of the parties and the majority of the population is pro-Europe. When people refer to a resurgence of nationalism in France I don’t think it is so much a resurgence as it is the same nationalism channeled differently. The nationalism in recent years (I would guess since Mitterrand’s U-turn in 1983) has been French nationalism channeled through Europe. The EU was “French” enough so that nationalism could take the guise of Europeanism because the reemergence of France and the reemergence of Europe looked like they were the same thing. Now that France has less influence in the EU with German reunification and the Eastern enlargement, Europe is no longer as “French” as it used to be and French nationalism through Europe is increasingly misplaced. However, in my opinion, the rise in Euroskepticism, anti-globalization, anti-Americanism and radical parties is not due to the fact that France has lost power in the EU or that now EU/global interests are detrimental to France. The reason for the rise is anti-global/EU/liberalism coincides with French loss of power in the EU but is not the cause. People see the economic problems in France which are from domestic problems, but have preferred to blame it on immigration and globalization Americanism etc. This was manifested in the French rejection of the EU constitution, people rejected it not on the basis of the actual constitution but because they are afraid that foreigners will come in a take their jobs and worsen the unemployment. The recent idea that you could be a patriot by being pro-European is getting less possible and that is why you see more nationalism coming from the government; the main center parties now have to pander a bit to the extremes: see Sarkozy’s presidential campaign or Chirac’s new background for his speeches (a big French flag with a sliver of the EU flag on the side rather than two equal flags side by side). Sorry for the long and somewhat unrelated tangent!
thank you for the long and wonderful tangent!
you made some really great points. there is some contradiction in France being Anti- and pro-EU at the same time but i agree that in my experience that is the case. it is as if France wants to lead Europe in a 4th (i think that is right but it damn well might be 5th or 6th) French empire.
I agree that we kinda skipped over nationalism in our class to much. the rise of some regionalism and nationalism is deceptive in France especially. most the the support for the front national (FN) in the last presidential election was more like when people voted for Perot in 1992. it was an effort to scare the mainstream partied out of complacency so they understood that people were fed up. France suffers from the same low electoral turn out as the US and every other long standing democracy. but the other reason La Pen and the FN did so well was that the left was divided and Chirac had managed to united the center-right behind him. the mess that was the general election was sorted out in the run-off where Chirac gained a ridiculous number of votes.
regionalism in Europe that is not anti-Eu and xenophobic is, in my eyes, the death of the European nation-state. being in a nation-state allows you access to a larger market; you don't need the nation-state in Europe anymore. economically the nation-states in Europe now act as the intermediaries for the European Commission. it is true that most people still identify themselves by nationality but many do it by regions: Flemish, Briton, Catalan, Moravian. this regionalism is historical but is also aided by the European practice of organizing the administration of the EU by NUTS 2 region which largely reflected this regionalism.
--Sam Hicks
I have to say that this reminds me a lot of the Cold War. Both Russia and the United States have a number of cultural qualities that make them similar. Above all else, the fact that there are two superpowers more likely than not means that they will rivals.
Of course, France is nowhere near a superpower, though through the reach of the European Union it may have a greater level of power than most are willing to give it.
However, though patriotism and nationalism may not be very strongly demonstrated, or even looked badly at, it is still better to be French than American (this is what I believe many French citizens feel like). So everything you've said, Claire, I would tend to agree with. Same for your comments Sam, but I would have to disagree with the EU being another French empire... if I were German I would have a stronger answer, but I'm just Portuguese.
But who knows? Maybe one day Europe will export its postmodern, postnationalist regionalism and the world will be a better place. After all, in today's world there is no such thing as a nation. The US certainly is not one, but many nations, under a strong (which is a good thing) federal government.
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