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11. Change and Resistance in the Fight Against Corruption

Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Although political corruption in France is hardly new, only at the end of the twentieth century have public authorities made important efforts to address it. This article explains why, stressing underlying economic conditions in the 1980s and 1990s and changes in the composition and norms in the judicial, police, and administrative professions. The author goes on to argue that despite the publicity given to recent scandals, the attack on corruption remains restrained and politicians of both the Left and the Right remain ambivalent about facing the problem.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
France

12. The Gallic Rooster Crows Again: The Paradox of French Anti-Americanism

Author:
Richard Kuisel
Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
What might a historical perspective provide toward understanding the current bout of bashing Uncle Sam? There is a pattern to Gallic anti-Americanism. It peaks, as it did in the 1950s and again today, when the U.S. postures as a socio-economic model and threatens a cultural invasion. But there are also new features to contemporary attacks on America. What has intensified French perceptions of American domination stems from changes within France as the nation pursues competitiveness and openness. These changes have brought a perception among the French that they have lost an idealized construction of "France" and are increasingly powerless over forces like globalization and European integration. Globalization in particular magnifies the presence and power of America. Anxiety about loss is transferred to an America that appears intrusive and selfserving. Neo-anti-Americanism is a form of retaliation—retaliation against a seemingly omnipotent United States which tries to impose the self-serving process of globalization on France; retaliation against our obstructionist, expendable and unreliable hegemony in international politics; and retaliation against American promotion of our flawed social model, which challenges a traditional construction of Frenchness.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Europe