The "special relationship" between the United States and the State of Israel cannot be fully explained by conventional realist analysis of so-called "hard factors" such as strategic importance and economic; nor can it be fully explained using pluralist theory by the influence of the pro-Israel lobby. The U.S.-Israel relationship, which was initially established as a strategic partnership, has quietly metamorphosed into an alliance that while still nominally rationalized as a strategic has actually becoming deeply rooted in American politics and political culture. In order to fully explain this unique alliance, which has shaped much of American foreign policy in the Middle East and most particularly American policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the past several decades it is necessary to consider "soft factors" most especially cultural, historical, moral, political, and ideological components of the relationship. These often-overlooked factors contribute to a political culture which strengthens the alliance between the United States and Israel and further reinforces American values and identity. American strategic priorities in the Middle East are defined by a context of cultural intimacy that has been established between the two countries rather than Israel's actual strategic value to the United States. The result is that American policy in the Middle East has often been inconsistent with America's publicly stated overall strategic goals. Often the alliance has ended up undermining goals like political and economic stability that it was originally intended to enhance. The political imperatives that often seem to govern American commitment to Israel are actually better explained as the results of deeply-rooted cultural and moral interpretations about Israel and its relationships with its neighbors. Thus it is the America's constructed perceptions of the reality of Israel rather than the actual reality of the Middle East that defines the U.S. relationship with the Israel and the broader Middle East. This study is an attempt to analyze how mass political culture influences the ideas and values, and ultimately the actions, of the political elite, which have shaped American policy towards Israel and more broadly the entire Middle East. / text

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Nous mettons en exergue dans cette thèse le concept de système européen en politique étrangère (SEPE) comme outil pertinent afin d’analyser la politique étrangère européenne telle qu’elle fonctionne, et non pas telle qu’elle devrait fonctionner. Le SEPE – composé des politiques étrangères des États membres et de l’action extérieure de l’UE – met en valeur le dynamisme de la gouvernance européenne, issu des interactions entre ses différents agents et leur utilisation des normes européennes. A travers le SEPE, nous démontrons que la politique étrangère commune face à la solution de deux États s’explique par les usages que fait l’UE3 – la France, l’Allemagne et le Royaume-Uni – de l’UE en politique étrangère. Ces usages sont au nombre de trois : fonctionnel, réaliste et normatif. Nous montrons que l’adoption puis la promotion de la solution de deux Etats résultent de la manière dont ils se saisissent de l’UE afin de répondre à un contexte international difficile, de la Déclaration de Copenhague de 1973 au vote à l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies de 2012 concernant le statut de la Palestine. Le déploiement et test de divers outils de politique étrangère, tels que la position d’envoyé spécial en 1996, illustrent l’usage fonctionnel de l’UE. Les usages normatif et réaliste de l’UE envers les Palestiniens rendent compte de l’adoption de normes financières et politiques très contraignantes, reflétant les intérêts communs de l’UE3. Ces mêmes usages leur permettent de promouvoir la reconnaissance de l’Etat d’Israël, et d’autre part, de privilégier leurs intérêts stratégiques avec Israël au niveau bilatéral grâce à l’expression d’un linkage politique au niveau communautaire. / In this thesis we bring up the concept of European System in Foreign Policy (ESFP) as a pertinent tool to analyze the European Foreign Policy as it actually functions rather than as it should function. The ESFP – composed of the Member States’ foreign policies and the External action of the EU – highlights the dynamism of the European governance in foreign policy, which arises from the interactions between the agents of this system and their use of the European norms. Through the ESFP, we demonstrate that the EU’s common policy towards the two-State solution can be explained by the usages of the EU in foreign policy by France, Germany and the United-Kingdom – the EU3. These strategic usages are threefold: a functional or reflexive, a realist and a normative usage. We show that the adoption and the promotion of the two-State solution result from the way they seize upon the EU in order to cope with a difficult international context, since the Declaration of Copenhagen in 1973 to the vote at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2012 concerning the new status of Palestine. The introduction and test of several foreign policy tools, as the position of special envoy in 1996, illustrate the functional usage of the EU. The normative and realist usages of the EU towards the Palestinians explain the adoption of constraining financial and political norms reflecting the common interests of the EU3. These same usages allow them to promote the recognition of the State of Israel on the one hand, and on the other hand, to privilege their strategic interests with Israel at the bilateral level through the expression of a political linkage at the community level.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished