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As French President Fran莽ois Hollande begins his state visit with American counterpart Barack Obama today, the two leaders will put on display a bilateral relationship that has deepened significantly in the past five years.

If Franco-American relations are often characterized as rocky 鈥� and defined in the public mind more by their clashes, particularly in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 鈥� today it鈥檚 much harder to find points of divergence. In fact, on foreign policy, France has become one of America鈥檚 most dependable partners in Europe, stepping into space that Britain once occupied exclusively.

鈥淭he change is spectacular in 10 years,鈥� says Frederic Bozo, an international relations expert in France who published a new book on Franco-American relations since France opposed invading Iraq, leading to French bashing and new terminology like 鈥渇reedom fries."

鈥淔rance has become the US鈥檚 best ally in Europe, at least as seen through the prism of crisis management and military cooperation,鈥� Dr. Bozo says.

Though official visits are common on both sides of the Atlantic, the Hollande trip is the first full state visit by a French leader to the United States in nearly 20 years. Ahead of it, the two leaders penned , underscoring the transformation that鈥檚 taken place in Franco-American affairs.聽聽

鈥溌爄n so many ways. But in recent years our alliance has transformed,鈥� Presidents Obama and Hollande write. 鈥淲e are sovereign and independent nations that make our decisions based on our respective national interests. Yet we have been able to take our alliance to a new level because our interests and values are so closely aligned.鈥澛�

The French policy of independence from "anglo influence," since the founding of the Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle, has given the French a reputation for being difficult and disloyal, says Bozo. That is misunderstood, though. 鈥淚t is a difficult ally because it wants to be a good ally,鈥� he says. 鈥淏eing an ally for France is not being a systematic follower of the US.鈥�

Even so, despite the damage Iraq did to the bilateral relationship, it has been the major exception in the past several decades. 鈥淭he whole parentheses on Iraq was precisely just that,鈥� says聽Arun Kapil from the Catholic University of Paris. 鈥淲hen it comes to the threat of 鈥榠nternational terrorism鈥� they are on same page.鈥�

For聽Laurence Nardon, a senior research fellow and head of the United States Program at the聽French institute of International Relations, the two countries are far more similar than commonly understood. 鈥淚t鈥檚聽a relationship mainly that is full of misperceptions all the time,鈥� she says. But 鈥渨e are very much akin in terms of political philosophy. We are much closer in terms of our project for the world, and how we see ourselves as a nation, than perhaps the US and the UK.鈥�

The Franco-American relationship has become more important to both, to some extent, because of exterior factors.聽While the US, France, and Britain all face military defense cuts, it is Britain that is perhaps showing the most 鈥渨ar fatigue,鈥� seen most recently when it declined to strike Syria, after the French, and initially the US, were ready to fight. While charges of US espionage from leaked documents by Edward Snowden have hurt US diplomatic relations globally, particularly in Europe, it did the most damage to the German-American relationship, says Bozo.

But French military action has garnered praise from the US, both for its intervention in Libya with Britain in 2011, and this year in Mali and the Central African Republic. It鈥檚 also played a major role in negotiations with Iran on its nuclear power generation and civil strife in Syria.

The Franco-American relationship spans beyond foreign policy. In their op-ed, Hollande and Obama speak of cooperation in the ongoing negotiations for a US-European Union trade deal, and their leadership in combating climate change.聽Hollande will visit Silicon Valley Wednesday, in which he will face the joint task of raising issues with Google and other tech giants over tax disputes in France. And at the same time, he will try to convince US enterprise that France is a good place to do business, particularly with new business-friendly policies that Hollande unveiled last month amid rock bottom approval ratings.

It鈥檚 in the realm of foreign policy, however, where both have the most to gain. For Obama, a dependable ally in France聽underscores that the US has partners in Europe, and a partner willing to act on its own, while it focuses attention on Asia. For Hollande, the state visit could raise some controversy, says Bozo.

鈥淥n the one hand, he is exposing himself to those who criticize his foreign policy as too Atlanticist and too pro-American and to those who oppose his pro-business turn,鈥� he says. But it also gives him the chance to be seen as the quintessential world leader, with red-carpet treatment in Washington. 鈥淚t comes at a time when he faces very big difficulties at home.鈥�