Redefining the French Republic

Abstract:

Explicitly adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the book investigates continuity and change in contemporary French politics, society and culture. The chapters go beyond the familiar question of whether the Republic is acting in accordance with its vocation, to address the issue of whether that vocation is still viable. Drawing on contributions that reflect a variety of methodological approaches, ranging from theoretical speculations and modelling to the interpretation of fieldwork data, this study examines the dynamics of the relationship between the Republic and its constituencies, in the fields of political relations, territorial identities, social movements, public policy and foreign policy, and in each context juxtaposing what is perceived as the model for that relationship with the current reality.

France in the twenty-first century is facing challenges that could not have been imagined a generation ago. The test for the Republic is whether it will resist the ongoing pressures for redefinition imposed by internal contestation and the emergence of powerful supranational and global forces, or whether it will find a way of adapting to these pressures while preserving a part of the vocation and ambition that make it characteristically French. The book concludes that, though the French polity remains characteristically different from other models of modern liberal democracy, internal and external pressures have challenged the republican model to the core.

Alistair Cole is Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University. Gino Raymond is Reader in French Studies at the University of Bristol.

Contents:
1. The republican ideal and the reality of the Republic - Gino Raymond
2. French politics in the twenty-first century - Alistair Cole and David Hanley
3. Politics on the periphery: Brittany and republican France - Alistair Cole
4. Urban governance and local democracy in France - Susan Milner
5. From margin to mainstream? Establishing a community of gay citizens - Steve Wharton
6.The citizen and the subject - Nadia Kiwan
7. Social policy and the challenge to the ‘republican model’ - Jean-Paul Révauger
8. The interventionist state: demise or transformation? - Mairi Maclean
9.Exporting the republican model? A critique of France’s historic mission in Africa - Gordon Cumming