Redefining the French Republic (review)

The publication of this edited volume is particularly fortuitous at a time when European societies face new challenges both from inside and outside and when new paradigms have to be sought to address the question of political and social change. If the word crisis comes to mind every time France is mentioned, this book argues nevertheless for a far more complex and subtle interpretation of the major transformations that have affected French society in recent decades. Combining a range of different perspectives and exploring five main fields — political relations, territorial identities, social movements, public policy and foreign policy, the contributors have chosen to deconstruct the republican model by juxtaposing official discourses and the realities of contemporary life and by setting their analysis within a broader historical framework. Together the authors address the question of 'whether the Republic will find a way of adapting to these pressures while preserving a part of the vocation and ambition that make it characteristically French' (p. 4). Raymond and Cole and Hanley, in the first two chapters dealing with the republican ideal and the nature of French politics in the twenty-first century, examine the extent to which old and new paradigms coexist in the context of a more dynamic and less integrated political and ideological framework. The major contribution of this innovative textbook is to reopen the discussion of subjects that have very often been taken for granted by observers of the republican model. It is because this volume contrasts discourses to practices, and reviews in an argumentative fashion the republican paradigm, that it brings something original to the debate, because too often studies of this type remain on a theoretical level. Discussions of the periphery, with the example of Brittany, or on the social margins of the République with the integration of immigrants in Aubervilliers, are convincing examples of the benefits of adopting an ethnographic approach. The various contributors demonstrate convincingly that the republican model is more flexible than commentators have traditionally envisaged. Whether dealing with the gay community or the interventionist state, the responses given by social actors to social and economic change have more to do with a reinterpretation, extension and adaptation of the republican paradigm. However, the republican model remains a core obstacle to any fundamental change of French political life. Cole and Raymond have managed to bring a new perspective to the discussion, and their volume will be of great interest for students and above all academics in European studies.