The End of the French Exception?: Decline and Revival of the 'French Model' (French Politics, Society and Culture)

Analyzes the notion of the French exception and the ways in which it has informed both academic analysis and political commentary on France today. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach it examines the resilience of the notion of French exceptionalism and evaluates its relevance in a changing domestic and global context. The End of the French Exception? seeks to understand how the French national polity has responded to external pressures such as Europeanization and globalization: what, if anything, makes French responses 'exceptional', or at least different, compared to those of other countries? How are we to understand these differences? And how might this analysis lead us to rethink or modify our hypothesis of French exceptionalism? The contributors to this collection analyse the ways in which the notion of the French exception has informed both academic analysis and political commentary on France today. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach it examines the resilience of the concept of French exceptionalism and evaluates its relevance in a changing domestic and global context. This highly topical volume also covers the Sarkozy presidency Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-16 The French Exception: Rise and Fall of a Saint-Simonian Discourse....Pages 17-35 Front Matter....Pages 37-37 Reviving the French Exception? Sarkozy, Authoritarian Populism and the Bonapartist Tradition....Pages 39-54 Social Policy and France’s ‘Exceptional’ Social Model....Pages 55-71 ‘L’exception culturelle’....Pages 72-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 The French Extreme Left and the Persistence of a Revolutionary Myth....Pages 87-104 French Euroscepticism and the Construction of National Exceptionalism....Pages 105-122 Front Matter....Pages 123-123 French Immigration Policy in Comparative Perspective....Pages 125-152 France, Islam and Laïcité: Colonial Exceptions, Contemporary Reinventions and European Convergence....Pages 153-170 From Private Lives to Intimate Revelations: Politicians and the Media in Contemporary France....Pages 171-184 Front Matter....Pages 185-185 France, Europe and the Limits of Exceptionalism....Pages 187-202 Back to the Future? Franco-African Relations in the Shadow of France’s Colonial Past....Pages 203-220 Front Matter....Pages 221-221 A View from the South. France in African Eyes: Universalism and Francophonie Reassessed....Pages 223-236 Front Matter....Pages 237-237 French Exceptionalism and the Sarkozy Presidency....Pages 239-250 Back Matter....Pages 251-279 The French exception: rise and fall of a Saint-Simonian discourse / Sue Collard -- Reviving the French exception? Sarkozy, authoritarian populism and the Bonapartist tradition / Nick Hewlett -- Social policy and France's 'exceptional' social model / Susan Milner -- L'exception culturelle / Hugh Dauncey -- The French extreme left and the persistence of a revolutionary myth / David Bell -- French Euroscepticism and the construction of national exceptionalism / Robert Harmsen -- French immigration policy in comparative perspective / Martin A. Schain -- France, Islam and Laïcité: colonial exceptions, contemporary reinventions and European convergence / Natalya Vince -- From private lives to intimate revelations: politicians and the media in contemporary France / Raymond Kuhn -- France, Europe and the limits of exceptionalism / Helen Drake -- Back to the future? Franco-African relations in the shadow of France's colonial past / Margaret A. Majumdar, Tony Chafer -- A view from the South. France in African eyes: universalism and Francophonie reassessed / Abdoulaye Gueye -- French exceptionalism and the Sarkozy presidency / Tony Chafer, Emmanuel Godin