“Nothing can cause a law that is no longer in accord with custom to remain unamended. Nothing can eause a treaty to remain wholly valid once its purpose has altered. Nothing can cause an alliance to continue as it stands when the conditions in which it was created have changed.”—General de Gaulle, on Feb. 21, 1966.
The able American Ambassador to France, Charles E. Bohlen, has declared before a Senate Committee that the withdrawal of France from the NATO integrated commands was “probably the most serious event in European history since the end of the war.” In weighing this assessment, one might well keep in mind de Tocqueville’s reminder that “what we call essential institutions are often only the institutions to which we are accustomed.” Yet there is little question that the French move was a significant development in postwar Europe. The purpose of this article is to explore some implications of this development for the international system and for the international legal order.