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Through the little known Longchamps Affair, this article explores the interaction between state and national, and popular and legal, conceptions of American citizenship during the founding era. In 1784, French migrant Charles Julien de Longchamps attacked a French diplomat on the streets of Philadelphia, sparking a national debate on what it meant to be an American citizen. While the French government demanded his expatriation, in an unexpected turn of events, Longchamps alleged that he had been naturalised as a citizen of Pennsylvania the day before the attack, and consequently had the right to stand trial in the United States. The affair became a national referendum on the nature of American citizenship. Officials employed a state-centric, legal vision of membership inherited from the colonial period to argue that Longchamps was not an American citizen and advocate for his removal. These claims were disputed in newspaper coverage across the United States, which instead contended that Longchamps' commitment to revolutionary values proved his citizenship, invoking a broader national community. The public perceived Longchamps' fate as inherently tied to their own, demonstrating that a shared sense of belonging across the United States was equally as important as state membership in shaping how citizenship was understood in real terms. The Longchamps Affair provides a window into the ambiguous and contested nature of membership during the founding decades, both in determining what constituted American citizenship, and how the rights conferred by citizenship differed for native-born Americans and naturalized migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text reviews newly-retrieved documents of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the 1960s. They treat the Balkan theme in the context of the European communications. The information gathered by the French diplomats reflects the inter-Balkan relations during those years. The emphasis falls on the attempts for starting a dialogue between the Balkan countries, establishing contacts in various scientific fields, founding the Institute of Balkan Studies in Sofia and the First International Congress of South-East European Studies in 1966. There are brief reviews of the activities of some politicians (Ivan Bachev) and researchers (Nikolay Todorov, Emile Condouraki, Vassilka Tâpkova - Zaïmova), who have contributed to these emerging processes, as well as the role of Sofia for the good neighbourly relations. The additional material from the home archives of the author sheds light on particular segments of the resonance of the French policy in Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the experience of Pierre David, Napoleonic consul in Bosnia from 1807 to 1814, under Hüsrev Mehemed Pasha's tenure as governor of the province (1806-8). It relies on the diplomatic correspondence between David and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to highlight the French interests in the area and their modification after the Treaty of Tilsit; the figure of Hüsrev Mehemed Pasha; the relationship of the locals with the Ottoman authority and the Consul; and the local effects of the revolution that overthrew the reformer sultan Selim III. The article reveals the ineffectiveness of communication from the highest to the lowest levels of French diplomacy in the Levant. It also demonstrates the complex Ottoman center-periphery dynamics during one of the empire's most critical moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article presents a biography of French Catholic poet and diplomat Paul Claudel. He was born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France, on August 6, 1868, and began publishing his poems in the early 1870s in such journals as "La Vogue." He appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine in 1927 in recognition of his literary and political work.

France took a hardline stance against Tehran's nuclear program. Yet for several decades, the French government adopted a softer line with regard to nonproliferation. France was the last permanent member of the UN Security Council to ratify the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In the 1960s and 1970s, Paris sold nuclear facilities to Israel, Iran, and Iraq, some of which had potential military uses. Why did France change its policy on nonproliferation? By reconstructing the evolution of France's position with respect to Iraq's and Iran's nuclear programs since the 1970s, this article explains how Paris shifted from reluctant loner to one of the main promoters of the norm of nonproliferation. The changing role of a second-tier power stems from transformations in the division of diplomatic labor inside and outside the state. Drawing on archival and interview data, we show how a group of French diplomats, followed by political leaders and nuclear scientists, mobilized the nonproliferation norm and carved out a role for France in the international system. Throughout this period, successive presidents faced fragmented domestic fields in which bureaucratic and political struggles shaped French policy. These struggles refracted the impact of the international system on France's slow and uneven convergence with the US position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life of François baron de Tott (1733-1793) or Baron Ferenc Tóth is still a mysterious and obscure chapter in modern diplomatic history, even despite the one-time success of his memoirs. As the son of a kuruc officer, he was born in France and chose a military and later diplomatic career there. In the Turkish war of 1768-1774 he played an important role in modernizing the Turkish Army. After the end of the war, he returned to France. Represented primarily by the Secretary of State for the Navy, count Sartine and his leading officer, Saint Didier, voices in the Versailles cabinet seeking the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire became more pronounced in the 1770s. Baron Tott prepared a plan to conquer and colonize the rich province of Egypt. Even though the plan was not supported by foreign minister count Vergennes, it provided a fantastic opportunity for the interventionist circles in the Versailles government to organize an expedition, which eventually took place in 1777- 1778. As the chief supervisor of the trade offices and diplomatic representations belonging to the French sphere of influence, Baron Tott traveled through the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean and was collecting secret information for a potential Egyptian campaign. After his travels, he worked out a complete military plan to conquer Egypt, which was not realized for almost twenty years till the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon, due to the unfavorable political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]