Reinventing France: state and society in the 21st century

Undermined from above by economic globalization and European integration, and from below by the rise of identity politics, the French state has attempted to redefine its relationship to its citizens. Reinventing France examines the ways in which state action has endeavoured to promote social integration in an increasingly fragmented nation and has challenged traditional concepts of an indivisible Republic and universal citizenship rights in order to achieve the core republican ideals of freedom, equality and solidarity. The contributors examine questions such as the changing role of the state, political participation, immigration, education, working-time policy and the French state's portrayal of itself through the commemoration and often painful re-examination of the events of the Second World War. What emerges is a picture of a state that is redefining its relationship to its citizens while not entirely abandoning its universal conception of republican citizenship.