Two long, detailed but fascinating articles in The National Interest by Milton Ezrati, a sort of super-swot at economics and international affairs. You can read them both in date order HERE and HERE. To be fair, he doesn't come up with anything that isn't more or less 'bleedin' obvious' but he does explain the underlying reasons why France has been, is now and will likely continue to be, in a very definite decline, not just in comparison to an ever-mightier Germany but also in measured comparison with its post-war history. As Mr. Ezrati emphasises, there are all sorts of ideas afloat to improve the woeful state of the French economy but all of them fall foul of either Hollande's entrenched socialism or an all-pervasive government bureaucracy that resists all change and maintains a tax and regulatory system of such complexity that it is slowly but surely strangling French industry to death.
"The times they are a-changin'!" as that great, er, political scientist, Mr. Bob Dylan once sang. Mr. Ezrati makes clear that nothing too much is visible at this moment, there are no troop movements to be seen, or the drone of flights of bombers to be heard, all of which used to presage shifts in the European strategic balance, but nevertheless, signs of impending change can be seen inside European organisations and relationships as it becomes increasingly clear that real power has shifted irrevocably from a Franco-German duality to a German singularity!
Those two articles are well worth reading. Meanwhile, poor France, quelle domage!
