France and the Arab Upheavals
The consequences of the upheavals across the Middle East and North Africa since December 2010 have posed a significant foreign-policy challenge to France, which has historically distinguished itself from other major Western powers by maintaining a closer relationship with the Arab states, and its former colonies, in this region. Despite this familiarity, however, the incoherence of the French response under President Sarkozy to the turbulence that unfolded early in 2011 suggests that it was caught unawares and, despite apparent success in Libya, Sarkozy's successor Hollande continues to grapple with the impact on French influence in the region.
The FreNch WhiTe PaPer oN DeFeNSe aND NaTioNal SecuriTy
With the White Paper on Defence and National Security of June 2008, France has embarked on an in-depth overhaul of its security and defence strategy. in terms of content, three innovative elements are noticeable. The first is a shift of focus away from France’s historic spheres of influence towards a “strategic arc” of instability that stretches from the atlantic via the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and horn of africa and on to south asia. Second, greater emphasis is put on intelligence. Third, the White Paper approves France’s reintegration into NaTo’s integrated military command structure.
PLEASURE, POWER, AND THE PURSUIT OF COMMUNISM: SOVIET YOUTH AND STATE-SPONSORED POPULAR CULTURE DURING THE EARLY COLD WAR, 1945-1968
art, with certain students accused of “showing political immaturity, failing to understand the Party’s positions on art.” This episode constituted part of a broader crackdown on abstract art by the Khrushchev administration from late 1962, precipitated the the Soviet leader’s derision of such art forms in December 1962 at the Manege exhibit. Such instances demonstrate the limitations of the top-level promotion of youth grassroots initiative, as the Khrushchev leadership reigned in youth autonomy when it threatened to go beyond the boundaries of the permissible. The dates cited above have particular resonance, since both 1957-58 and 1962-63 represent two periods when those at the top of the Party hierarchy moved away from pursuing a more pluralistic, tolerant policy course, due to anxiety inspired by both sharpening Cold War hostilities and domestic developments. In these periods, official rhetoric censured what it labeled as 639 TsAOPIM, f. 635, op. 13, d. 546, ll. 56-57. This is likely related to criticism of the Party associated with the fallout from the Secret Speech and the Hungary invasion. For more, see Polly Jones, “From the Secret Speech to the Burial of Stalin: Real and Ideal Responses to De-Stalinization,” in Jones ed., The Dilemmas, 41-63. 640 TsAOPIM, f. 6083, op. 1, d. 52, ll. 166-67. 641 Susan E. Reid, “In the Name of the People: The Manege Affair Revisited,” Kritika 6.4 (Fall 2005): 673716. 642 On these anxieties, see Dobson, Khrushchev’s Cold Summer, 156-88.