The French-American Relationship, its Impact on the UN and the Reshaping of International Intervention 1990-2011

Abstract

The relationship between the us and France has profoundly affected the process of international intervention, use of force and humanitarian actions in the conflicts across the world since 1990. Military interventions and decision making in international affairs has been the result of the balance of powers inside the UN Security Council from the end of the Cold War onwards. From the peak of 9/11 to the low of the Iraq war the French-American relations have constantly kept the international agenda alive. With the changes in both the US and French administrations in the past 4 years, with the overall EU dynamic, as well as with the developments in MENA (Middle East-North Africa) in recent months, the interaction between those two main actors of the trans-Atlantic partnership, has gained new dimensions. The present paper attempts to analyze the consequences of the French-American relations of the past 2 decades on the UN system and on the legitimacy of international interventions.