France鈥檚 quiet diplomacy with US
A program to educate American students in France aims to expand understanding with a next generation of U.S. leaders. It reflects how much international relations rely on individual ties.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the Lafayette Fellowship program to students and other guests at the French Institute for Culture and Education in New York City, Sept. 23.
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This week鈥檚 United Nations gathering underscored the many points of common interest as well as contention in global relations today. The leaders of longtime allies France and the United States, for example, agree on the need for Europe to fund and strengthen its defense capabilities. But when it comes to the war in Gaza, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and climate change ... c鈥檈st compliqu茅. It鈥檚 complicated.
Increasingly, however, international relations are not entirely dependent on who is in power. With affordable air travel and extensive online connectivity, relationships among individuals 鈥� academics, scientists, artists, ordinary citizens 鈥� are ever easier to form. And they are often more elastic and enduring.
French President Emmanuel Macron is counting on this. On Tuesday in New York, he unveiled the Lafayette Fellowship program. Named after the French nobleman who fought in the American Revolution under Gen. George Washington, the program will bring 30 鈥渙utstanding鈥� U.S. students to a top French university each year, to be immersed in 鈥淓uropean innovation, culture, and policy.鈥�
鈥淭his fellowship is based on trust and youth,鈥� Mr. Macron said. Referring to the thousands of Americans who fought alongside French troops in two world wars, he spoke of 鈥渁 new generation of Americans crossing the ocean, not to wage war ... but to invent a future together.鈥�
In these aims, Mr. Macron is not alone. For decades, the United Kingdom鈥檚 and Germany鈥檚 Marshall fellowships, as well as the University of Oxford's Rhodes Scholar program, have had similar goals. So has the U.S. Fulbright fellowship, described as 鈥渁 modest program with an immodest aim鈥� 鈥� that of peace. Sen. J. William Fulbright (a Rhodes scholar himself) believed that exposing young people to different cultures and viewpoints would in the future enable them to 鈥渆xchange ideas instead of bullets.鈥�
Shared ideas and interests can help transcend nationalistic and cultural divides. For instance, India鈥檚 Bollywood movies have a large fan base in neighboring Pakistan. And North Koreans have been willing to risk punishment to watch South Korean TV shows.
But deeper political tolerance and trust benefit from intentional, direct dialogue and collective discovery. In June, academics, students, and diplomatic representatives attended a 鈥渒nowledge diplomacy鈥� workshop in Paris. The University of London, one of the event鈥檚 sponsors, is studying the diplomacy that 鈥渉appens in the quiet spaces of academic life.鈥� Such connections, one participant said, 鈥渟urvive political turbulence because they鈥檙e built on shared intellectual curiosity rather than political calculation.鈥�
Former U.S. astronaut Joseph Allen offers an even wider perspective, drawing parallels between his experiences as a Fulbright scholar in Germany and flying (twice) on the space shuttle.
鈥淏oth,鈥� he has said, 鈥渆xpand and change dramatically one鈥檚 view of the world.鈥�