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What do the French really think about Americans? What do Americans really think about the French? The questions are of more than passing interest. Because in many ways France sets the political tone for the rest of the Continent, the state of Franco-American ties is key to the larger U.S-European relationship -- the most important political and commercial relationship on the planet. And the tone has been more or less strident over the years since Charles De Gaulle yanked France out of NATO's integrated command structure in 1966.
Only recently, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine called the U.S. a "hyper-power," dictating its will to less powerful nations. French opinion makers consistently rail against what they perceive as the cultural Americanization of the world. And on the U.S. side, there's a consistent tendency to view France as a troublemaker abroad and, at home, the last bastion of statist economic policies this side of Pyongyang.
Are perceptions changing? Foreign Minister Vedrine traveled to Washington in early May to say that he didn't mean to insult the U.S. in calling it a "hyper-power." French and American diplomats now work closely together on important issues like the Middle East peace process and Russia. And despite the fairly recent French charges of U.S. cultural imperialism, a big French media group, Vivendi, is aiming to buy Seagram for that company's rich trove of Americana, from Universal Studios to Motown Records.
Business Week together with the French-American Foundation and the Paris-based newsweekly Le Point has commissioned a study from French polling group SOFRES to find out how feelings are really running both sides of the Atlantic. The results -- culled from 1,000 Americans and 1,000 French -- are surprising, to say the least.
"DEGENERATION."
For one thing, the French seem to be less favorably disposed to the U.S. than at any time in the recent past. Back in 1988, 54% of French polled by SOFRES had "positive" feelings about the U.S. Today, that figure has dropped to a mere 41%. Yet there seems to be a grudging recognition of the recent strength of the U.S. economy compared with that of France. Only four years ago, according to SOFRES, more French thought that their country was better at fighting unemployment than the U.S. Today, 38% think the U.S. is doing a better job, compared with only 32% who think France is superior in this department. Still, with France's unemployment rate standing at 10%. the polling gap might have been even wider.
And what about American perceptions of France? Curious. A vast majority of the Americans who were polled maintain that France is a clear world leader in wine, fashion, and, to an extent, culture. Yet when it comes to other fields where France clearly excels, such as medical research, nuclear energy, and aerospace, few Americans think the French have anything important to say.
On the whole, it seems most French today might agree with their early 20th century Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. He said the U.S. was "the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization." The SOFRES poll indicates that a clear majority of French -- 56% -- associate the U.S. today with negative qualities rather than positive ones. The trait the French most associate with the U.S.? Violence. It's clear that French and American policymakers who seek to change deeply rooted attitudes have their work cut out for them.
Rossant covers business and politics from the Paris bureau of Business Week
EDITED BY BETH BELTON
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