This thesis is the study of Great Power nvaliy during 1958-1963, a period of both increasing political and economic cooperation in Western Europe and transatlantic relations within NATO against a background of the Cold War France and Britain are the focus of our analysis. The two states show the same characteristics in this period: Both powers had come out of World War H as victors and, despite having been much weakened by the war, had won an international status a Great Powers thanks to a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. They were both colonial powers tiying to adjust to a new world order based on East-West bipolarity and the domination of the two super-powers. Against a background of international decline from pre-war power, both France and Britain were looking for new ways to secure their rank and international influence through both NATO and the EEC, while trying to adapt to a changed bi-polar and post-colonial world order. NATO and Europe are therefore the main issue area of this thesis, which is structured as a series of studies into the main areas of Anglo-French rivalry in the above period. We show that the real reasons for failed negotiations - whether over the Free Trade Area, tripartism in NATO, or British membership of the EEC - are to be found in Great Power rivahy for a leading place in Europe. We thus contend that Anglo-French political rivalry ultimately led to a breakdown of negotiations, rather than any of the negotiations themselves breaking down, and that NATO affairs and European affairs were closely linked. Each state failed to accept the other within its respective sphere of influence, since each had mutually exclusive interests, a factor which in the end, despite sincere efforts in both Paris and London, wrecked Anglo-French cooperation on Europe and NATO and thus prevented the two states from working together on restoring their declining international rank.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:324617 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Nielsen, Steen Aage |
| Publisher | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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