Abstract
Two distinctive strands characterize the extensive amount of literature commenting the diplomatic resolution of the Georgian crisis. While some attribute it to the French President Sarkozy's panache, and "diplomatic fleetness", others, refusing to grant one man all the glory, rather emphasize the European Union (EU)'s common handling of the crisis.
Instead of fueling fruitless debates over to whom (EU or France) goes the credit of this crisis resolution, this study seeks to balance the two before-mentioned clear-cut statements by arguing a random combination of numerous facilitating factors with respect to the French President's way into a successful crisis resolution. Without these factors, such a demonstration of French high-profile diplomacy would have been unlikely.
We distinguish three types of factors.
The EU-related factors refer to EU's institutional settings, former commitments in Georgia as well as to European Member States (MS) conflicting geopolitical preferences within the European Council. The contextual factors are to be associated with the summer 2008 international conjuncture. Finally, the "Sarkozy" factors refer to the French President personality and diplomatic history.
Tags: Georgian crisis,EU-related factors,European Member States, French President, diplomatic fleetness
