Avoiding Negotiations.

The classic French personality analyzed by sociologists such as Michel Crozier and political scientists like Stanley Hoffmann represents а style of authority and interpersonal relationships dominated by а dislike of face-to-face discussions leading to compromises through participation of all parties involved in а problem." The purpose served by this social pattern is to preserve the autonomy of the individual, who values independence and resists the compromises that would be required by constant interaction with others. It also frees the French from the awkward necessity of adopting the role of а demandeur, which is associated with subordination and the loss of а cherished independence of the individual. At the end of the 1960s, Crane Brinton still found the French unwilling to take risks and cited their reputation for caution, conservatism, reluctance venture into the unknown or the untried. Such pattern tends to produce fairly rigid, hierarchically-based systems in which authority is exercised from а comfortable distance and is kept abstract, impersonal, and aloof. Thus, everyone is constrained by elaborate rules, precedents, legal procedures, and self-imposed inhibition s that also inhibit change and accommodation. One result of this trait is that the French have developed perhaps an excessive respect for legal documents and concepts, while their system of statute law encourages a lackof flexibility.

Another important characteristic ascribed to the French is their penchant for relying on highly rational logic and general principles as they analyze and attempt to resolve problems and conflicts. A

Frenchman might demonstrate an excessive devotion to principle. On the other hand, the French have also been justly proud of their ability to understand and grasp general intellectual and philosophical principles, an extraordinary capacity for analysis, the power to perceive at once the principle implicated in a problem.

Many others observers have noted, however, that these admirable intellectual traits present some inconveniences, a tendency to argue about principles not about interests and a fascination with grandiose, elegant schemes rather than feasible projects. Thus, the French can often seem especially stubborn and blind to what others see as reality, in part because of Frenchman’s dependence on a formal logic.

The abstract French personality is not one that lends itself easily to negotiation, bargaining, and compromise. The absence of important domestic practices or even conceptions of liberal, pluralist bargaining means that the French consider negotiation an unfortunate necessity in the domain of international relations. When the French do engage in negotiation, it is with much reluctanceand skepticism about both the process itself and the virtue of compromise as a method of resolving the conflicts between parties. The psychological resistance to compromise is reinforcedby a certain sense of intellectual and logical superiority, which can produce a conviction that individual, group, or (French) national position is more likely to be logically correct and that compromise is irrational on grounds of principle.

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