Assessing France's Third Way: French Bilateral Policy with Indo-Pacific Middle Powers

France, despite being a European power, possesses considerable territories in the Indo-Pacific and in recent years has aimed to expand its role in the region, particularly through bilateral relations with middle powers such as India and Australia. The overall success of this approach has remained largely unassessed in academic literature, and this paper helps to close this gap by applying a Realist analysis to France’s bilateral policies. It finds that France has achieved certain successes in expanding its relations with states such as India and Japan through military exercises, trade, and strategic partnerships. In doing so, France has effectively reinforced its regional legitimacy. France has also faced challenges, most prominently the scuppering of its submarine deal with Australia and its struggles to achieve strategic alignment with Indo-Pacific partners. This paper argues that France has thus failed to accomplish its aim of a ‘third way’ in the Indo-Pacific.