At least since the French Revolution, France has the peculair distinction of simultaneously fascinating, charming and exasperating its neighbours and foreign observers. Contemporary France provides an essential introduction for students of French politics and society, exploring contemporary developments while placing them in a deeper historical, intellectual, cultural and social context that makes for insightful analysis. Thus, chapters on France's economic policy and welfare state, its foreign and European policies and its political movements and recent institutional developments are informed by an analysis of the country's unique political and institutional traditions, distinct forms of nationalism and citizenship, dynamic intellectual life and recent social trends. Summaries of key political, economic and social movements and events are displayed as exhibits.

Reproduction of the original.

First published in 1995. Immigration is one of the most significant and pressing issues in contemporary France. It has stirred up controversies over concepts such as the ‘ghetto’ and the ‘underclass’; it has erupted in flashpoints such as the Islamic headscarf affair, the Gulf War and the reform of French nationality laws, and it has become central to political debate with the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s extreme right-wing Front National. This is the first comprehensive survey to be published in English covering developments in this field during the last twenty years. Spanning politics and economics, social structures and cultural practices, this authoritative study will be of keen interest to under graduates and researchers in French studies, migration studies and ethnic relations, and a wide range of social science disciplines.

Organized chronologically, A History of Modern France presents a survey of the dramatic events that have punctuated French history, including the French Revolution, the upheavals of the 19th century, the world wars of the 20th century, and France's current role in the European Union. Written for today's undergraduate students, the text presents scholarly controversies in an unbiased manner and reflects the best of contemporary scholarship in French history.

Since the 1980s, France has experienced a vigorous revival of interest in its past and cultural heritage. This has been expressed as part of a movement of remembering through museums and festivals as well as via elaborate commemorations, most notably those held to celebrate the bi-centenary of the Revolution in 1989 and can be interpreted as part of a re-examinaton of what it means to be French in the context of ongoing Europeanization. This study brings together scholars from multidisciplinary backgrounds and engages them in debate with professionals from France, who are working in the fields of museology, heritage and cultural production. Addressing subjects such as war and memory, gastronomy and regional identity, maritime culture and urban societies, they throw fresh light on the process by which France has been conceptualized and packaged as a cultural object.

A series of dictionaries on the contemporary milieu of the world's most important countries. The Contemporary Country Dictionary series are not tourist guides--though tourists with a serious interest in countries they are visiting will find them of great help in learning more about these societies. These alphabetical reference guides have been compiled to give up-to-date information on all aspects of each country--explanations of terms that are outside the scope of a standard dictionary or encyclopedia--including acronyms, political and legal institutions, cultural phenomena, social welfare programs, industrial concerns, media, literary and political personalities, and much more. Each Dictionary has been compiled by two people--a native of the individual country and an English-speaking collaborator from either Great Britain or the United States. Readers are thus assured of authoritative information that is rendered in terms comprehensible to English-language readers. The Dictionaries will prove invaluable to researchers, librarians, and students.

A bold interpretation of contemporary French political culture that uses current political debates to understand how the French engage with politics.