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101. Dangerous Liaisons in 1940s Quebec: Vichy or la France libre

Author:
Robert Schwartzwald
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
It may come as a surprise to American readers that during the Second World War, both the Vichy regime and la France libre cared deeply about public opinion in French Canada. Yet resource-rich Canada was Britain's principal ally against Nazi Germany before the collapse of the Hitler-Stalin pact and the attack on Pearl Harbor. If public opinion in English-speaking Canada rallied immediately behind Great Britain and was solidly interventionist, this was not the case in Quebec. In his study, Montreal historian Eric Amyot demonstrates that the opposing French camps well understood the necessity of waging a war for public opinion in the largely French-speaking province. At stake were Canadian government policy and the respective claims for legitimacy of Vichy and la France libre both at home and on the world stage.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Britain and France

102. War and Liberation: Histories from Below

Author:
Steven Zdatny
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Little remains today of the so-called Resistencialist Myth, the notion that France was a nation of resisters, save for a handful of treasonous collabos. It was a useful and ingenious fiction. Maybe it spared the country civil war. It certainly bought France selfesteem and saved civil society for the Fourth Republic and the resurrection of liberal democracy. But it's hard to imagine anyone believes it anymore, if anybody truly believed it then. We know that these sorts of political legends do not die all at once; they fall apart in stages, like Francisco Franco. In this case, the stages are well known. In the late 1960s, Marcel Ophuls's The Sorrow and the Pity offered a countermyth of Collaborationist France. A few years later, Robert Paxton's careful, irrefutable scholarship ravaged the legend of la France résistante and re-ignited interest in the real history of Vichy. His Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order depended on research in German occupation sources because French documents were closed. But actors die, fifty-year rules expire, politicians and archivists tack with the wind, all of which has prodded French historians to an unprecedented scrutiny of the nation's experience of war and occupation.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
France

103. La présidence française du Conseil de l'Union européenne

Author:
Michel Gueldry
Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Du 1er juillet au 31 décembre 2000, la France présida le Conseil de l'Union européenne (UE), et ce pour la onzième fois depuis la création de la troïka et de la présidence tournante en 1978. Elle assuma ce rôle précédemment au second semestre 1989 et au premier semestre 1995. En 1999, l'Allemagne et la Finlande assumèrent cette responsabilité, puis le Portugal précéda la France au premier semestre 2000. Cette fonction est un moment fort de la politique nationale—du fait de la cohabitation—et de la politique continentale, car les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale (PECO) frappent à la porte de l'UE, qui doit se préparer pour les intégrer. C'est pourquoi cet article étudie d'abord la dynamique de la cohabitation envers l'Europe, puis le rôle, le contexte et le programme de cette présidence française. Ensuite, il résume les décisions prises aux sommets de Biarritz et de Nice et enfin il analyse leur signification pour la France, les relations franco-allemandes et le futur de l'Union.
Political Geography:
Europe and France

104. From Republican Political Culture to Republican Democracy: The Benefits and Burdens of History

Author:
Dick Howard
Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
The essay claims that there has been a consistent political logic whose course can be traced across the Ancient régime down through modern times. It is marked by the quest for unity, the refusal of particularity, and the rhetoric of republicanism. But, since left and right were distinguished by their attitudes toward the revolution, the emergence of the "social question" made it necessary for the left to justify its divisions. That was the role of Marxism, which functioned in France not as a theory but as an ideology of legitimation. The achievement of Mitterrand against this background can be seen as the "corruption of the republic." However, the logic of the "affaires" that have emerged may make possible for the first time in French history an autonomous magistrature. As a result, the French quest to realize a democratic republic may be replaced by the more modern politics of republican democracy.
Political Geography:
France

105. The Sudden Memory of Torture: The Algerian War in French Discourse, 2000-2001

Author:
William B. Cohen
Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
During the Algerian War successive governments denied that they employed torture in the conduct of the conflict. The French public during the war and thereafter were, however, well informed on the brutal means used in the North African conflict. In the summer of 2000 an Algerian woman tortured by the French gave an interview to Le monde. The publicity surrounding this interview and a subsequent interview given by General Aussaresses, head of the secret operations in Algeria, created a public furor over France\'s record in Algeria. In a much publicized petition, some of those who had opposed the Algerian war asked the French government to issue an apology for its acts. France\'s political leaders balked, refusing to take such a step. As a result of the furor created in 2000-2001 there was a greater sense of consciousness of the darkest sides of French colonialism. If the French government eventually does issue a public apology, it will largely be as a result of the dramatic debates of the last year.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
France and North Africa

106. Homosexuality in France

Author:
Michael Sibalis
Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Gay and lesbian studies have almost everywhere experienced an incredible rate of growth in the last decade or so, but until very recently French scholarship has lagged far behind. In particular, professional historians in France have been reticent to research the history of homosexuality, in large part because of the conservatism of the academic establishment. (Young scholars have feared that an interest in gay history would hinder their careers.) As a result, much of the existing gay history of France has been produced by "Anglo-Saxons" (as the French call anyone who speaks or writes in English), and to the extent that "gay studies" have made their appearance in France, it is journalists, sociologists, and legal scholars rather than historians who have led the way.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
France

107. Histoire Vs Mémoire En France Aujourd'hui

Author:
Jacques Revel
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
École des hautes études en sciences sociales Jusqu'à une époque très récente, l'expérience historique de la France et la mémoire dont elle était porteuse étaient pensées dans les termes d'une histoire; et cette histoire ne s'énonçait pas, elle ne se pensait pas n'importe comment: elle pouvait être diverse et contradictoire, mais elle avait ses formes et elle obéissait à des règles. Les choses ont bien changé. En grossissant et en simplifiant les choses, on pourrait dire que la France est devenue depuis une vingtaine d'années le lieu d'une entreprise mémorielle proliférante et multiforme. Une bonne part de notre traditionnelle activité narcissique-mais aussi de notre investissement sensible-a trouvé à se reconnaître dans la production de mémoire, sous toutes ses formes. J'en retiens trois, pour aller au plus simple.
Political Geography:
France

108. Women In The French Resistance: Revisiting the Historical Record

Author:
Claire Andrieu
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
If the Resistance as a whole is part of French identity, the different types of resistance, among them that of women, do not benefit from the same status. On the contrary, official commemorations of the Resistance are based upon two implicit statements: that the Resistance and the nation are somewhat equivalent - the Resistance being viewed as the uprising of the whole nation - and that to differentiate among the resisters would go against the very principles of the Resistance, its universalism, its refusal to make any distinction in race or origin. The assimilationism that is part of the ideology of the French Republic hinders the recognition of particularisms, whether regional, cultural or gendered. The Resistance has two national heroes, General de Gaulle since 1940, and Jean Moulin since 1964, both male and French. But no group has yet demanded the implementation of an affirmative action policy for the process of heroization. The French fear of multiculturalism -or any recognition of particularisms - could be sufficient to explain the slow development of women's studies in France, and indeed, the history of women resisters has not yet been studied as much as that of the Resistance as a whole. There were other factors that prevented it from developing. After reviewing the available bibliography, I propose some new directions of research which - as elementary and unsophisticated as they are - may break down some stereotypes and allow us to glimpse some aspects of the Resistance that traditional history has neglected.
Topic:
History
Political Geography:
France

109. Abdelmalek Sayad And The Double Absence: Toward a Total Sociology of Immigration

Author:
Emmanuelle Saada
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
At the time of his death, the sociologist of immigration Abdelmalek Sayad (1933-1998) was putting the final touches on a collection of his principal articles-since published under the title La Double Absence. The publication of this collection provides, I think, a good occasion for introducing Sayad to the anglophone public, which to date has had almost no exposure to his work. In France, Sayad's sociology has been essential not only to the study of Algerian immigration, but to the understanding of migration as a "fait social total," a total social fact, which reveals the anthropological and political foundations of contemporary societies. The introduction of this exceptional work to American specialists of French studies is timely, moreover, because immigration and more recently, colonization have been among the most dynamic areas of research in the field in the past few years.
Political Geography:
America and France

110. Dossier: Charting the Future of French Farming: Introduction

Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Farmers still count for a lot in France, despite their shrinking numbers. Scarcely four per cent of the workforce now earns a living in agriculture. Yet, every politician knows that the country has a huge stake in farming-France is second only to the United States as an agricultural exporter-and that farmer unions wield clout. Farmers have cultural leverage as well. Rolling fields and rural hamlets still figure prominently in most people's mental image of what makes France French and its social fabric whole. Even so, the future for many farmers is anything but secure. Global competition, EU enlargement, and scientific advances will continue to reshape the conditions of agricultural production and marketing. Farm subsidies could well diminish under pressure from trade negotiators or from voters at home who wish to put tax revenues to other purposes. Many a small family farm could go under for lack of young men and women willing to wager their futures on a farming career. Meanwhile, big growers will no doubt find ways to raise more food on less land with fewer hands. Ineluctable though these trends may be, however, French farmers have an impressive record of fighting back in the face of adversity. Their militance, combined with a strong tradition of state protection and public pride in the land and its products, make it certain that agriculture will remain one of the more important, and contentious, arenas of debate in the new century.
Topic:
Agriculture
Political Geography:
United States and France