This provocative book takes the form of a dialogue between French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and international relations expert Dominique Moisi. Vedrine expresses his frank views of the U.S. ""hyperpower,"" France's role in the world, Europe's future, the current structure of the international system, and the role of ethics in international affairs. Probing the historic, diplomatic and cultural issues that unite and divide two historical allies, the book give unique insights into French thinking about the world, and France and America's respective roles in it. ""Like the French satirical television show that twits the United States for being the 'World Company' that invades peoples lives around the globe, the French foreign minister, Hubert Vedrine, expresses frustration, and perhaps a little envy, at America's dominion.... ""Since becoming foreign minister three years ago, Mr. Vedrine, 53, a lawyer and previously the senior foreign policy advisor to Francois Mitterand when he was president, has made a priority of making distinctions between France and the United States. That has left senior American officials muttering more than usual about the French."" --New York Times
Hubert Vedrine was the French minister of foreign affairs from 1998 to 2002. Dominique Moisi is the deputy director of the French Institute for International Relations and columnist for the Financial Times. Philip H. Gordon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. His books include Winning the Right War: The Path to Security for America and the World (Times Books, 2007) and Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis over Iraq (McGraw Hill, 2004).
"This book is an elegant, sophisticated and forceful presentation of two French views on the global condition. Whatever ones' view of France and the French, there is much food for thought here." Louis R. Golino, Insights, 9/1/2001 |"Vedrine, who remarks, 'In our era, foreign policy must continually be explained,' has certainly met his own criteria by defining France's foriegn policy in an open, candid, and very readable series of interviews that are of particular interest to a US audience." Robert J. Guttman, Europe, 10/1/2001 |"The intelligence and the lucidity of the analysis... go some way to assert the French Foreign Secretary's stature as a statesman.... Vedrine succeeds in showing how he manages fully to engage with the in-depth changes of the twenty-first century while staying true to the fundamentals of the French geopolitical code." Pascal Venier, University of Salford, UK, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1/1/2002 |"In a sparkling English translation by Philip H. Gordon, Vedrine comes alive as a true character -brilliant, haughty, frank and sly all at once." Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, Managing Editor, Survival (vol.44 n.3 2002)
