Australia and France’s Mutual Empowerment

Middle Powers’ Strategies for Pacific and Global Challenges

About the author

Dr. Paul Soyez is a specialist of French-Australian diplomatic and economic relations. He has taught History and International Relations at Sciences Po Paris, the Sorbonne University and the University of Melbourne. He is "Professeur agrégé" in History in France.

Paul completed his PhD in cotutelle between the University of Melbourne and the Sorbonne University. His research analyses the renewal of the French-Australian bilateral relationship since the end of the Cold War to the present time. Dr Paul Soyez has been a regular contributor to online reviews such as the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Strategist.

Paul is now the Press and Communication Attaché for the Embassy of France in Australia.

About the book

This book demonstrates why and how France and Australia are currently engaged in a process of diplomatic and economic mutual empowerment as part of their smart power strategies. This rapprochement has been possible owing to thirty years of diplomatic efforts to overcome ongoing culturally and historically constructed misunderstandings and conflicts.

The book analyses the actors, mechanisms and outcomes relevant to the transformation of the French-Australian bilateral relationship between 1985, a moment of strong tensions between both countries because of France’s Pacific policies, and the present time when Paris and Canberra are closer than they have ever been since the creation of their Enhanced Strategic Partnership in 2017. The enhancement of the French-Australian Strategic Partnership is a response to this challenging global context and takes part into Australia and France’s reengagement in the Indo-Pacific region.

This book argues that mutual empowerment is the response of two different middle powers, one global and one regional, to global threats and is a modernising tool for France and Australia’s diplomacies.

 

About the event

Dr Paul Soyez will welcome you for his book launch at the Alliance Française de Canberra on the 25th of July. After an introduction speech, you will be able to ask your questions to the author and a voucher will be given to attendees offering a 25% discount on his book, valid on the editor's website.