Fragmented France: Two Centuries of Disputed Identity
Jack Hayward
Abstract
For centuries, France has struggled to impose unity upon its diverse components. Its leaders have defined its identity by opposition to the ‘Anglo-Saxons’: first England, then Britain and the USA. After exploring France's self-image by contrast with the Anglo-American counter-identity, Part One deals with the unfinished revolution from 1789 to 1878 when the Third Republic achieved relative stability. After examining the variety of symbolic representations of French exceptionalism in search of democratic legitimacy and national unanimity, the enduring divisions in French society are explained i ... More
For centuries, France has struggled to impose unity upon its diverse components. Its leaders have defined its identity by opposition to the ‘Anglo-Saxons’: first England, then Britain and the USA. After exploring France's self-image by contrast with the Anglo-American counter-identity, Part One deals with the unfinished revolution from 1789 to 1878 when the Third Republic achieved relative stability. After examining the variety of symbolic representations of French exceptionalism in search of democratic legitimacy and national unanimity, the enduring divisions in French society are explained in their ideological, social, religious, territorial, and political aspects. Emphasis is given to writers and intellectuals in expressing these cleavages. Part Two relates French political paralysis to the slowness of socio-economic modernization and the polarizing role of intellectuals in perpetuating varieties of Left and Right battles over who personified anti-France. The adversarial character of French party politics fluctuated between the rhetorical revolutionary and reactionary extremes and the conservative or reformist realities. The colonial and international role of France is described, while the protectionist aversion to competitive global capitalism results in reluctant adaptation to forces beyond French control.
Keywords:
identity,
polarization,
Anglo-Saxons,
legitimacy,
revolution,
intellectuals,
protectionist
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2007 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199216314 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2007 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216314.001.0001 |
