EU:s vapenembargo gentemot Kina - Orsaker till Frankrikes agerande för ett avvecklande av vapenembargot

Sammanfattning: France is committed to its ambition to lift the European Union's arms embargo imposed on China after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. France is of today the only member state that is acting to lift the arms embargo, evoking questions of motives behind its behavior. The underlying assumption in this essay is that France's actions reflect a need to find new ways of adapting itself and surviving faced with the threats of its decreased international influence. By using three different perspectives ? realism, liberalism and constructivism ? this essay examines three possible models of analysis to explain France's behavior. An analysis of the discourse covering this essay´s topic between 1989-2007 provided the basis of the paper. While analyzing the material, the answer to why France wants to lift the arms embargo lies in the realist and liberalist models. Factors such as security concerns, bi- and multilateral cooperation and a shared French and Chinese vision of a multipolar world order were repeatedly voiced in the material used.