Abstract
This chapter introduces an approach to study political friendship as a factor that can contribute to positive peace. This is done by drawing upon the works of Johan Galtung and Andrea Oelsner, through which friendship is established as an aspect of positive peace. Thereby, this chapter contributes to addressing current lacunae in positive peace research. Political friendship is conceptualized through five key elements; affect, grand projects, altruistic reciprocity, moral obligations, and equality, which are examined in the friendships of Helmut Schmidt and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1974–1982), and Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand (1982–1995). Both the commonalities and differences discovered shed a revealing light on the role of friendship in politics and international relations, and help us to understand the crucial role close personal relations played in the European project, establishing a degree of positive peace through personal friendship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aristotle. (1968). The Nicomachean ethics (H. Rackham, Trans.). W. Heinemann.
Aristotle. (2003). The Nicomachean ethics (Harris Rackham, Trans., Revised ed., reprint). Harvard University Press.
Bacon, F. (1627). Of friendship. http://www.bartleby.com/3/1/27.html
Berenskötter, F. (2014). Friendship, security, and power. In S. Koschut & A. Oelsner (Eds.), Friendship and international relations (pp. 51–71). Palgrave Macmillan.
Blechman, B., & Fisher, C. (1989). West-German security policy and the Franco-German relationship. In R. F. Laird (Ed.), Strangers and friends: The Franco-German security relationship. Pinter.
Bozo, F. (2010). Mitterrand, the end of the cold war, and German unification. Berghahn Books.
Byman, D. L., & Pollack, K. M. (2001). Let us now praise great men: Bringing the statesman back in. International Security, 25(4), 107–146.
Carr, J. (1985). Helmut Schmidt: Helmsman of Germany. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Cole, A. (2006). French politics and society (2nd ed., [Nachdr.]). Pearson Longman.
Cooper, J. M. (1977). Aristotle on the forms of friendship. The Review of Metaphysics, 30(4), 619–648.
Cooper, J. M. (1980). Aristotle on friendship. In A. Rorty (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 301–340). University of California Press.
Dreher, K. (1998). Helmut Kohl: Leben mit Macht (2nd ed.). Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.
Evangelista, M. (2005). Peace studies: Critical concepts in political science. Taylor & Francis.
Eznack, L. (2011). Crises as signals of strength: The significance of affect in close allies’ relationships. Security Studies, 20(2), 238–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2011.572687
Favier, P., & Martin-Roland, M. (1997). La décennie Mitterrand III: Les défis: (1988–1991). Éd. du Seuil.
Galtung, J. (1964). An editorial. Journal of Peace Research, 1(1), 1–4.
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 167–191.
Galtung, J. (2012). A theory of peace: Building direct structural cultural peace. Transcend University Press.
Giscard d’Estaing, V. (1988). Le pouvoir et la vie. Compagnie Douze.
Gleditsch, N. P., Nordkvelle, J., & Strand, H. (2014). Peace research – Just the study of war? Journal of Peace Research, 51(2), 145–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343313514074
Gorbachev, M. (1995). Erinnerungen (I. P. Gorodetzki, Trans., 1st ed.). Siedler.
Gordon, P. H. (2007, September 1). Punish France, ignore Germany, forgive Russia’ no longer fits. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/punish-france-ignore-germany-forgive-russia-no-longer-fits/
Keating, J. (2012, March 23). Obama says every small country ‘punches above its weight.’ Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/03/23/obama-says-every-small-country-punches-above-its-weight/
Keller, S. (2009). Against friendship between countries. Journal of International Political Theory, 5(1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.3366/E1755088209000329
Kierkegaard, S. (2013). Kierkegaard’s writings, XVI: Works of love (H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, Trans.). Princeton University Press.
Kirby, N. (2017). Two concepts of basic equality. Res Publica, 24, 297–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-017-9354-5
Kissinger, H. A. (2015, November 23). Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt. Www.Henryakissinger.Com. http://www.henryakissinger.com/speeches/112315.html
Kohl, H. (2005). Erinnerungen: 1982–1990. Droemer.
Kohl, H. (2007). Erinnerungen: 1990–1994. Droemer.
Koschut, S. (2014). Emotional (security) communities: The significance of emotion norms in inter-allied conflict management. Review of International Studies, 40(03), 533–558. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210513000375
Koschut, S., & Oelsner, A. (Eds.). (2014). Friendship and international relations. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lacouture, J. (1998). Mitterrand, une histoire de Français: Tome 1, Les risques de l’escalade (SEUIL). Seuil.
Lewis, C. S. (1960). The four loves. Harcourt, Brace.
de Montaigne, M. E. (1627). Of friendship. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm
Nuttall, S. J. (2000). European foreign policy. Oxford University Press.
Oelsner, A. (2007). Friendship, mutual trust and the evolution of regional peace in the international system. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 10(2), 257–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230701208061
Oelsner, A. (2014). The construction of international friendship in South America. In S. Koschut & A. Oelsner (Eds.), Friendship and international relations (pp. 144–162). Palgrave Macmillan.
Prior, A., & van Hoef, Y. (2018). Interdisciplinary approaches to emotions in politics and international relations. Politics and Governance, 6(4), 48–52. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v6i4.1822
Sasley, B. E. (2010). Affective attachments and foreign policy: Israel and the 1993 Oslo accords. European Journal of International Relations, 16(4), 687–709. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066110366055
Schmidt, H. (1977). Als Christ in der politischen Entscheidung (2nd ed.). Gütersloher Verl.-Haus Mohn.
Schmidt, H. (1982). A policy of reliable partnership (Spring 1981). In W. F. Hanrieder (Ed.), Helmut Schmidt: Perspectives on politics (pp. 39–50). Westview Pr.
Schmidt, H. (1990). Menschen und Mächte 2: Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn. Siedler.
Schmidt, H. (1991). Menschen und Mächte (2nd ed.). Goldmann.
Schmidt, H. (1996). Weggefährten: Erinnerungen und Reflexionen (4th ed.). Siedler.
Smith, G. M. (2007). Kierkegaard: Responsibility to the other. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 10(2), 181–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230701207964
Stern-Gillet, S. (1995). Aristotle’s philosophy of friendship. State University of New York Press.
Tiersky, R. (2003). François Mitterrand: A very French president. Rowman & Littlefield.
Van Hoef, Y. (2014). Friendship in world politics: Assessing the personal relationships between Kohl and Mitterrand, and Bush and Gorbachev. AMITY: The Journal of Friendship Studies, 2(1), 62–82.
Van Hoef, Y. (2018a). Interpreting affect between state leaders. Assessing the Churchill-Roosevelt friendship. In M. Clément & E. Sangar (Eds.), Researching emotions in IR: Methodological perspectives for a new paradigm (pp. 51–73). Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Hoef, Y. (2018b). Modelling friendship between elite political actors: Interpreting the relationships of Schmidt and Giscard d’Estaing, Kohl and Mitterrand, Thatcher and Reagan, and Bush and Major [University of Leeds]. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/22485/
Van Hoef, Y. (2019). Leadership through friendship: The dangers and advantages of state leaders establishing close personal relations. Journal of Leadership Studies, 13(1), 70–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21631
Van Hoef, Y., & O’Connor, R. (2019). Sentimental utility theory: Interpreting the utilization of collective emotions by the political elite through the Erdoğan-Obama Friendship: Sentimental utility theory. Political Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12611
Van Hoef, Y., & Oelsner, A. (2018). Friendship and positive peace: Conceptualising friendship in politics and international relations. Politics and Governance, 6(4), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v6i4.1822
Walter, F. (2006, December 31). Helmut Schmidt: Der deutsche Krisen-Kanzler. Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/helmut-schmidt-der-deutsche-krisen-kanzler-a-456933.html
Wiberg, H. (1981). JPR 1964–1980. What have we learnt about peace? Journal of Peace Research, 18(2), 111–148.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Jaap de Wilde for first introducing me to this topic. He also kindly introduced me to Johan Galtung at the Past, present and future of peace research conference at the University of Groningen (2014). There, Johan Galtung graciously provided me with extensive feedback. Andrea Oelsner, through whose work I first became aware of the link between friendship studies and peace research, and with whom I would later actually get to collaborate, was crucial in further developing the ideas in this chapter. Finally, Rachel Rafferty’s insightful feedback has improved this chapter substantially.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
van Hoef, Y. (2022). Positive Peace Through Personal Friendship: Franco-German Reconciliation (1974–1995). In: Standish, K., Devere, H., Suazo, A., Rafferty, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0969-5_54
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0969-5_54
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-0968-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-0969-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences