Has a shift occurred in the relation between France and the United States since the end of the Cold War or in the wake of the war in Iraq? If yes, what are the consequences of this shift for Europe, the UN and the international community in the post-Sept 11 era? If not, what were the previous historic sources of disagreements between the two countries politically or culturally? Do the two countries embody two conceptions of democracy at odds with each other? To what extent will the status of their future relation influence global issues such as the environment, terrorism, globalization, human rights, and the greatest ideals to which the people of each country aspire?

I would like to examine these questions from a French perspective and address the conflicting nature of the French views and/or opinions about the US. This “contradiction” opposes (1) an idealized view of America (l’Amérique) with (2) a more contemporary image that represents in the French psyche the United States (les Etats-Unis). I would argue that the first symbolizes liberty and tolerance, the emergence of a new world that was based on the aspirations in France of the lumières. This dimension illustrates the two countries’ common heritage that brought them to Yorktown and Normandy. It underlines the shared values that led to the French and American revolutions. From a political point of view, Tocqueville exemplifies the recognition of these shared principles in Democracy in America as does Chateaubriand and others in the age of romanticism.

The second image of the United States (les Etats-Unis) emerged in the 20th Century through the rise of the most powerful country in the world whose intentions and actions seem to contradict at times the earlier aspirations of America, at least from a French perspective. This less positive view leads to major disagreements on both sides, and to “false accusations about France”, as French Ambassador to the United States David Henri Levitte has claimed recently, to the portrayal of France also as “the enemy of the United States”. We can show to what extent the divergences over Iraq have hidden the broad consensus between the two countries on many other international issues. This demonstrates that, from a French perspective, the image of “l’Amérique”, conciliatory and democratic, is never far behind the veil of “the news of the day” and that in fact “anti-americanism” is not as rampant and definitive as one might think. In fact, we need to (re)define the term, and mention the obvious: many Americans as many French do not agree with the US foreign policy but this does not make them “anti-Americans”.

My main argument is that the future of the French-US relation, beyond Iraq and other issues, will be determined in France by way of this paradoxical dynamic between the two images of the US that have been envisioned for a long time. The future of the relation, I would suggest the French believe, rests not as much on them today, as on the American people and its government who will decide which country they want to live in, how they will be able to strike a balance between the past aspirations of l’Amérique, one symbol of which is the statue of liberty, the responsibilities les Etats-Unis feels the need to fulfill, and the way by which it achieves this aim, as the most important country in the world.