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The debate on French foreign policy remains trapped into the old dispute between “realists” and “neocons.” However, the French Strategic Review of Defense and National Security 2017, as well as recent statements by Emmanuel Macron, show that the strategic global environment is getting more and more unstable and dangerous. In this context, we should go back to a more classical reasoning by focusing on the notion of national interest, too often eluded by the French diplomatic language. Analyzing the relations between diplomacy and the military allows to put this idea back at the core of key axes of French foreign policy – the alliance with London and Washington, the European community, the post-imperial area and the global commons. Faced with the great challenges of our times, the real issue is to focus on the geopolitical background of French foreign policy and not on vain ideological debates.