Charles de Gaulle, the International System, and the Existential Difference

Taylor & Francis

Charles de Gaulle, the International System, and the Existential DifferenceAuthor(s): Graham O'Dwyer\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781472437556, 978-1472437556\nSynopsis\nThis innovative account of Charles de Gaulle as a thinker and writer on nationalism and international relations offers a view of him far beyond that of a traditional nationalist. Centring on the way de Gaulle regarded nations as individuals the author frames his argument by rationalising de Gaulles nationalism within the existential movement that flowed as an intellectual undercurrent throughout early and mid-twentieth-century France. Graham ODwyer asserts that this existentialism of the nation and the presence of the past allowed de Gaulle to separate the nation from the state when looking at China, Russia, Vietnam, and East European countries, enabling him to understand the idiosyncrasies of specific national characters better than most of his.