A Model of its Own? State-NGO Relations in France

The emergence of new transnational actors on the international scene has considerably transformed the global political landscape. The increasing number of multinational corporations, transnational criminal and terrorist groups, and humanitarian and charitable organizations whose activities cross borders means that states, acting alone, are much less capable of governing global affairs. According to many observers, this trend means that states have lost their monopoly in global diplomacy, becoming just one actor among many on the world stage. Particularly for a country like France, whose identity has long been structured around the primacy of the state, such a vast decline of state capacity is sometimes lamented as the "end of France.