Traditionally, France has been viewed as host to a unique set of tensions between the centre and the periphery, dating back to the Revolution and beyond, which has shaped its structures of power and marked its evolution as a modern society. This survey provides a fresh overview of those tensions between a centralising state and the constituencies challenging it, and asks whether that model can remain viable or whether it is not, in fact, undergoing a process of profound change.Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Acronyms Notes on Contributors Introduction The President: Still a 'Republican Monarch?'; G.G.Raymond The Party System: the End of Old Certainties; A.Cole Trade Unions; a New Civil Agenda?; S.Milner The Limits of Economic Dirigisme and Collusion; G.Jones The Press, the PAF and the Decline of Tutelage; J.Forbes Education: from Confessionalism to Consumerism; G.G.Raymond The State and Religion: Rethinking LaIcit?; G.Salemohamed Language and Power; D.Ager Decentralizing or Deconstructing the Republic?; G.G.Raymond Index
... there is a good discussion of frequently neglected topics, such as the press, education, religion, and the politics of language. Choice
DENNIS AGER Professor of French and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Aston UniversityALISTAIR COLE Lecturer, Politics Department, University of KeeleJILL FORBES Professor of French, University of BristolGEORGE JONES Head of French Studies, European Business School, LondonSUSAN MILNER Lecturer in French, University of Bath