This chapter surveys elements of France's strategic culture in terms of France's continuing ambitions for great power status, its love-hate relationship with the United States, its role as a strong proponent of Europeanization and multilateralism, and the preeminence of executive presidential powers on matters of defense and security. Hellman then critically examines the existing scholarship on French strategic culture, finding it to be dominated by geopolitics and realism. The author notes a remarkable consensus on how the nature and character of French strategic culture is presented and explained, with most scholars stressing the continuity over time and the link between France's national self-image and French strategic culture dating back to the end of World War II or even longer. The chapter concludes by suggesting that expanding the studies of French strategic culture to epistemologies other than positivism could lead to a broadening of the use of theories and methodologies in further understanding France's strategic culture.