Modern Diplomacy and French Political Thought with Luke Foster

In this episode, Veronique de Rugy and Luke Foster peel back the layers of the "French political soul," and explore the intellectual roots of the Franco-American relationship.

Foster, a professor and co-founder of Academia Tocqueville, argues that Tocqueville's emphasis on civil society as a check on central power remains the ultimate diagnostic tool for modern governance.

De Rugy and Foster also discuss the high stakes of 21st-century geopolitics, centered on Foster's recent critique of the NATO alliance, "We Need Friends, Not Flatterers." They dissect the Gaullist concept of strategic autonomy, questioning whether the American security umbrella has inadvertently stunted European state capacity and led to a "crowding out" of defense spending by the welfare state.

From France's nuclear grid to the surprising efficiency of its fiscal bureaucracy, De Rugy and Foster challenge the assumption that the American model is always more efficient, ultimately calling for a partnership built on honest realism rather than convenient dependence.