ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: POLITICAL PROTEST
Volume 5
DEFENCE AND DISSENT IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE
DEFENCE AND DISSENT IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE
Edited by
JOLYON HOWORTH AND PATRICIA CHILTON
First published in 1984 by Croom Helm Ltd
This edition first published in 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
1984 J. Howorth and P. Chilton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-03-203038-8 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-00-319086-8 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-03-203791-2 (Volume 5) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-03-203793-6 (Volume 5) (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-00-318901-1 (Volume 5) (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003189015
Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
DEFENCE AND DISSENT IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE
EDITED BY
JOLYON HOWORTH AND PATRICIA CHILTON
1984 J. Howorth and P. Chilton
Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent BR3 1 AT
Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, First Floor, 139 Kings Street,
Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Defence and dissent in contemporary France.
1. Antinuclear movement-France-History
2. France-Military policy
I. Howorth, Jolyon II. Chilton, Patricia
355.033544 UA700
ISBN 0-7099-1280-3
All rights reserved. For information, write:
St. Martins Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
First published in the United States of America in 1984
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Defence and dissent in contemporary France.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. France-Military policy-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. France-National security-Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Antinuclear movement-France -Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Howorth, Jolyon. II. Chilton, Patricia.
UA700.D42 1984 355.033544 8440043
ISBN 0-312-19100-6
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Contributors
Introduction: Defence, Dissent and French Political Culture
Jolyon Howorth and Patricia Chilton
Part One: Defence Policies in Post-War France
Neville Waites
2 Gaullism, Nuclear Weapons and the State
Philip G. Cerny
3 The Parties and the Nuclear Consensus
David Hanley
4 Defence and the Mitterrand Government
Jolyon Howorth
5 French Nuclear Weapons
Patricia Chilton
Part Two: Voices of Dissent
6 French Defence: A Military Critique
Admiral Antoine Sanguinetti
7 The Rebirth of a Peace Movement
Claude Bourdet
8 Peace Organisations in France Today
Christian Mellon
9 Ecologiste and the Bomb
Tony Chafer
10 The New Left and Defence: Out of the Ghetto?
Vladimir Claude Fiera
Postface: France and the European Peace Movement
E. P. Thompson
Bibliography
Claude Bourdet has been active in French political life since the 1930s and has written extensively on French and European politics. Among other things, he has been instrumental in the founding of Combat, le Nouvel Obsefvateur, the Parti Socialiste Unifi and, more recently, CODENE.
Philip G. Cerny is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of York.
Tony Chafer is Senior Lecturer in French Studies at Portsmouth Polytechnic.
Patricia Chilton was formerly a Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Aston in Birmingham.
Vladimir Claude Fiera is Professor of Contemporary European Studies at Portsmouth Polytechnic.
David Hanley is a Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Reading.
Jolyon Howorth is Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Aston in Birmingham.
Christian Mellon is a Jesuit priest and Lecturer at the Catholic Institute in Paris. He is editor of Alternatives non-violentes, co-founder of the Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente, and a leading member of CODENE.
Admiral Antoine Sanguinetti has served in the French Navy since 1939. Prematurely retired in 1976, he has recently been reinstated with full honours, though he continues to speak and write critically on French defence matters. He is also a member of the Socialist Partys Defence Commission.
E. P. Thompson is well known as a historian and writer. He is a founder member and principal theorist of the European Nuclear Disarmament movement, for which he has campaigned actively since 1980.
Neville Waites is a Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Reading.
The editors wish to thank Cyrrhian Macrae for her help in the typing of the manuscript.
Jolyon Howorth and Patricia Chilton
La France fut faite coups dpe. Nos pres entrrent dans lHistoire avec le glaive de Brennus. Ce sont les armes romaines qui leur portrent la civilisation. Grace la hache de Clovis, la patrie reprit conscience delle-mme aprs la chute de lEmpire. La fleur de lys, Symbole dunit nationale, nest que limage dun javelot trois lances.1
Charles de Gaulle, La France et son Armee, Paris, Pln, 1939, p.l.
With these words, de Gaulle gave expression to an aspect of popular culture which is deeply rooted in the French national psyche. In order to understand the role of military structures and defence strategy in the life of a nation, one cannot avoid an assessment of the place of the armed forces and of military tradition in that nations historical culture. For centuries, France was the foremost military power on the continent of Europe. The French nation and the French state were, as de Gaulle put it, forged by the sword. Defence issues have played a fundamental role in French history and to a very large extent her political and cultural values are deeply imbued with references to her martial past. In the pages that follow, we have used the word defence to cover those structures, forces, individuals, groups and ideas which have held official sway over Frances defence policy.
