Abstract

We of course knew it: war is not a subject of interest in France. When Yves Montand appeared on the TV to speak about its seriousness … the French no longer loved Yves Montand. It's just that simple. This popular consensus on the insignificance of war is equalled only by the inverse consensus among the elite about its importance. Especially for the left intellectuals, strategy has become the “in” theme; international affairs are taken seriously, diplomacy is domesticated.

This is first explicable in terms of domestic politics. When the left came to power in 1981, it put the secondary school teacher on the throne but left the intellectual without a place.