French and German Security Policy: Close allies with differing views on the intervention in Libya

Abstract: France and Germany are two closely connected countries with two very different identities. Despite of these differences they have been cooperating for many years and have been a driving factor behind European integration and have had a common interest in making the European Union a global actor with a more united foreign policy. Agreement between the two countries are not an axiom though, as the intervention in Libya has shown. We are going to use their disagreement as a setting for studying the differences between the two countries from a constructivist and realist perspective. This leads to an examination of the French identity as an important, global actor, opposed to the lesser glorified German perception of themselves as a civilian power, with a culture of restraint from military force. To test the relevance of these identities we are applying realist assumptions about national interest and rationality as well as constructivist ideas regarding their approaches to the Libyan crisis. We find that both French and German identities have played an integral part of their decisions, but also that their actions to a differing degree have been influenced by their national interest.