Charles de Gaulle, in his general's
uniform
Gaullism ( ) is a
French political ideology based on the
thought and action of
Charles de
Gaulle.
Doctrine
Foreign policy
The main
theme of de Gaulle's foreign policy was of national independence, with, as some
practical consequences, some degree of opposition to international
organizations such as NATO
or the
European Economic
Community. The basic tenets were that France should not
have to rely on any foreign country for its survival (thus the
creation of the French nuclear
deterrent) and that France should refuse subservience to any
foreign power, be it the United States
or the Soviet Union
. One can also cite what foreign observers
dubbed the policies of
grandeur, that is, the insistence
that France is a major power in the world scene and the
establishment of military and economic forces to back this claim.
In that respect, Gaullism significantly influenced the
foreign policy of France in the
following decades, even though Gaullists were nominally no longer
in power.
Foreign
critics, particularly in the United Kingdom
and the United States, derided and resented de Gaulle's policies of
independence they called "of grandeur".
A major
point of friction was de Gaulle's decision to withdraw France from
the integrated military command of NATO (but not from NATO itself)
and to expel NATO from its headquarters at Fontainebleau
. De Gaulle refused to allow foreign troops
on French soil if these troops were not under French command, a
move that greatly angered the United States, which had troops in
France at the time and expected French military and foreign
policies to be aligned with its own.
Home policies
One may also cite
social
conservatism, and economic
dirigisme and
volontarisme as parts
of the Gaullist ideology, but these are not necessarily accepted by
all who called themselves Gaullists. Gaullism is generally
considered a
right-wing ideology, but
there have also been
left-wing Gaullists,
the differences between the two consisting of differing social and
economic policies.
Gaullism has sometimes been characterized as a form of
populism, since de Gaulle relied heavily on his
personal
charisma. That is, de Gaulle
preferred a direct relationship with the people to parliamentary
politics; to some extent, he was scornful of politicians and
political games. He resigned after failing to obtain a majority in
a
constitutional
referendum on a reform of the French Senate.
Political group
The "Gaullists" as a
political group
used to refer to the
Union of Democrats for the
Republic.
Since de Gaulle's death, and the break-up of the UDR, the exact
meaning of Gaullism has become somewhat unclear. In 1980s-1990s
usage, "Gaullism", or "Neo-Gaullism", referred to the
Rally for the Republic (now
integrated into the
Union
for a Popular Movement), the centre-right party founded by
Jacques Chirac. Chirac has, in the
past, adopted both
dirigiste and
laissez-faire approaches to
economics; he later took on a
pro-European stance after having famously
denounced Europeanism in the
Call of
Cochin. For these reasons, some on the right, such as
Charles Pasqua, denounced Chirac and his
party as not being "true Gaullists".
There are people on the
political
left who also call themselves Gaullists.
Even Socialist
president François Mitterrand, who denounced
de Gaulle's way of ruling as a permanent coup d'état, was very intent on keeping the
nuclear deterrent and asserting France's independence.
References
See also
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