The vision of a Great France is up-to-date, and the Republic’s current foreign policy should be seen as a signal that its needs and goals are increasingly ambitious. In addressing the raised subject of the international military engagement of the French Republic, it is fundamental to illustrate where and to what extent its military structures operate and what the actual aspirations in the global struggle for hegemony may be. Currently, there are nearly 20,000 troops under official activity and a continuously maintained military infrastructure in South America, Africa, Australia and Oceania, Europe and the Middle East. Moreover, the navy is regularly engaged in the course of naval missions or exercises in the Indo-Pacific region. Not only in territorial approach, but also in terms of technological development and weapons, France owns all the tools to have a significant impact on global security and to create a geopolitical environment that will be conducive to the achievement of its objectives.
This report aims to identify the contemporary military activity of the French Republic outside its borders, which is a strategic element for strengthening its position on the international arena. The community of scholars and experts, not only in Poland but also abroad, should pay special attention to France’s capabilities in military and political matters, as it is one of the main actors in the global game of influence. Very often, the French Republic is not placed equally alongside the United States, China and Russia, and from a European perspective – especially in the context of the EU and NATO – it should be perceived as one of the countries that has the potential to compete and pursue an independent foreign policy, and in consequence becoming the fourth power in the world. Moreover, a detailed pooled analysis of France’s international military engagement has not previously been the subject of studies neither in Polish nor English language. Although the matter of French foreign policy has been portrayed in numerous studies (in both of the aforementioned languages), to this day there has been no study on how precisely missions are conducted. In view of the above, it is necessary to reconsider the issue of France’s military presence outside its borders, pointing to contemporary goals, challenges and threats for the French Republic, which in the authors’ opinion are of fundamental importance for international security.
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