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COURSE BOOKS

• John Ardagh, France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society , Penguin Books.
• A Course Reader containing all assigned texts.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students are required to do all reading before the first weekly session, and to attend all guest lectures and site visits scheduled during the semester. Students are required to complete the weekly readings comprised of secondary sources (in English) found in the assigned books, the Course Reader [CR], and directly on the web (with links from the syllabus). In addition, most weeks require the perusal of a "dossier" of primary sources including speeches, newspaper articles, and government reports.

• Weekly Readings and Class Participation (20% of the final grade)
• Writing Assignments (30% of the final grade)
• Two short papers (5-7 pages each) on two different topics to be chosen in consultation with the instructor and tutor.
• Examinations (50% of the final grade)
• There will be a mid-term exam (20% of the final grade)
• and a final exam (30%)

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COURSE SCHEDULE

There is also a separate Web Resource Page for Professor Dufoix's course, with links to online reference sites, as well as other research material. The best English-language summary of French current events on the web is The Tocqueville Connection.

  Web Resource Page      The Tocqueville Connection

• Fernand Braudel, "Introduction"  to The Identity of France, vol. 1 History and Environment, London, Collins, 1988. [CR]
• Gilles Bousquet and Alain Pessin, "Culture and Identity in Postwar France," in N. Hewitt, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Modern French Culture (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 41-60. [CR]
• Ernest Renan, "What is a Nation?," text of a conference delivered at the Sorbonne-University, 11 March 1882, in Ernest Renan, Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?, Paris, Presses-Pocket, 1992. 

• R. Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France (Cambridge, 1998), pp. 35-49.
• S. Hazareshingh, Political Traditions in Modern France (New York, 1994), pp. 124-50.
• S. Unger, "Introduction," in Identity Papers: Contested Nationhood in 20th century France, ed S. Unger and T. Conley (Minneapolis, 1996), pp. 1-7.

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I. Social Make-Up and Institutions

This section will focus on the transformations of the French population since WWII (births, fertility, ages, professional distribution…) and on the evolution of France's political institutions over the last sixty years, as seen through a series of contemporary problems (territorial policy, the "revision " of the Constitution, and the issue of majority rule in French elections).

Week 2. September 20-24.
Who are the French?

First Session: Population, Gender, and Class
Second Session. Guest Lecture. Paul-André Rosenthal, "The Demographic Origins of France"

• John Ardagh, France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society (London, 2000): pp. 149-99.
• Gérard Noiriel, “Immigration: Amnesia and Memory,” French Historical Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2. (Autumn 1995), p. 367-380. [CR]
• Dominique Schnapper, "The Debate on Immigration and the Crisis of National Identity," West European Politics, (April, 1994), vol. 17 : n°2, pp. 127-139.

• Cartography of the French Population: Peruse the various maps based on the 1999 census.
• F. Daguet, La Population de la France: Look at the tables on the changing structure of the population since 1946.
  

• R. Moriaux, "Trade Unions, Unemployment and Regulation, 1962-1989," in Searching for the New France, ed. J. Hollifield and G. Ross (New York, 1991), pp. 173-192.
• Julie Pecheur, "French Immigration and Integration", Correspondence 10 (Winter 2002/2003), 7-9.
• Helsinki Report: "Women and Science: Review of the Situation in France"

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Week 3. September 27-October 1.
Territory, Language, and the Constitution

First Session: Territory and the Constitution
Second Session: "French is the Language of the Republic"

• Peter Sahlins, Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees, Berkeley : University of California Press, 1989, Introduction, p. 1-24. [CR]
• Ardagh, France in the New Century, pp. 257-343.

• Alain Renaut, “The French Debate on Regional Languages,” Comprendre. Revue de philosophie et de sciences sociales, special issue “Les identités culturelles” (edited by Will Kymlicka and Sylvie Mesure), (2000), n°1, pp. 381-400.
• Denis Lacorne, "Corsica, 'Multiculturalism,' and the Jacobin Republic," Correspondence

• The French Constitution of 1958 and its amendments
• Law of 4 August 1994 Relative to the Use of the French Language

• R. Ball, "Language: Divisions and Debates," in Hewitt, Cambridge Companion, pp. 125-44.
• Alexander Stille, "Verlan: the Vanguard of Backwards," Correspondence no. 10 (Winter 2002/2003), 45-47.

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Week 4. October 4-8.
Parties and Electoral Politics [ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE]

First Session: The French Party System
Second Session: Case Studies: Communists, Greens, National Front

• E. Declair, Politics on the Fringe (Durham, 1999), pp. 115-37. [CR]
• R. Gildea, France Since 1945 (Oxford, 1997), pp. 169-200. [CR]
• George Ross, "Party Decline and Changing Party Systems: France and the French Communist Party," Comparative Politics, Vol. 25, No. 1. (Oct., 1992), pp. 43-61. [CR]

• The Presidential Elections of 2002: take a look at the maps of results for the 1st and 2nd rounds.

• S. Hoffman, "The Institutions of the Fifth Republic," in Searching for the New France, pp. 43-56.
• R. Tiersky, France in the New Europe, pp. 46-83.
• J. Masterson, "No Earthquake in France"

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II. The Politics of Recognition: Race, Gender, Sexual Preferences

France is a Republic, where public law officially forbids the political recognition of any subgrouping (of race, gender, or ethnicity) in the public sphere. In the recent years, this republican model has been frequently challenged by claims for the official recognition of gender and sexual differences; by racism; by the politics of communitarianism and affirmative action; and by the recognition of “zones de non-legalité” within French territory.

Week 5. October 11-15.
French Exceptionalism?

First Session: Neo-Republicanism
Second Session: Family Politics: the Case of the PACS (Civil Solidarity Pact)

• Claude Nicolet, “More than Two Centuries of French Republican Exception,” Le Monde diplomatique, (April, 2001), p. 28-29.
• Michael F. Leruth, “The Neorepublican Discourse on French National Identity,” French Politics and Society, (Fall 1998), vol. 16 : n°4, pp. 46-61. [CR]
• Carl F. Stychin, "Civil Solidarities or Fragmented Identities? The Politics of Sexuality and Citizenship in France," Social and Legal Studies, (2001), vol. 10 : n°3, pp. 347-375. [CR]
• P. Festy, The "Civil Solidarity Pact" (PACS) in France: An Impossible Evaluation, Population et Sociétés (June 2001)

• The PACS (Law of October 13, 1999), from the Collectif PACS website (plus clippings).
• Description of PACS on the Prime Minister's website
• The French Registered Partner Law PACS description; (very slow site)

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Week 6. October 18-22.
Gender Parity

First Session: Gender and Political Life
Second Session: The "Ni Putes ni Soumises" ("Neither Whores nor Submissives") Movement

• M. Sineau, "Institutionalizing Parity: the French Experience" (IDEA 2002)
• C. Baudino," Parity Reform in France," Review of Policy Research, vol 20 (2003)" [CR]
• Jill Lovecy, "Citoyennes à part entière?: The Constitutionalization of Gendered Citizenship in France and the Parity Reforms of 1999-2000," Government and Opposition 35 (2000), 439-62. [CR]
• Marie-Marthe Gervais-le-Garff, "Liberté, Egalité, Sororité:a new linguistic order in France?," Women and Language 25, 1 (2002). [CR]

• Article from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
• Visit the website of the "Ni Putes ni Soumises" movement, in French
• Interview with Geneviève Fraisse, "Rights of Man and/or Rights of Woman"

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Week 7. October 25-29.
MID-TERM EXAM, guest lecture

First Session: Midterm exam
Second Session: Guest Lecture: "Racism in France?," Zair Kedadouche

SEMESTER BREAK: NO CLASSES. October 30 - November 7

Week 8. November 8-10.
Racism and Discrimination

First Session: Immigration and Racism
Second Session: Cast Studies: Mobilizing against racism (SOS Racisme, France Plus)

• Miriam Feldblum, Reconstructing Citizenship: The Politics of Nationality Reform and Immigration in Contemporary France (Albany, 1999), pp. 129-47.
• Georges Mauco, "The Assimilation of Foreigners in France," Population Studies, Vol. 3, Cultural Assimilation of Immigrants: Supplement. (March, 1950), pp. 13-22.
• Erik Bleich, “Antiracism without Races : Politics and Policy in a 'Color-Blind' State,” French Politics, Culture and Society, (Fall 2000), vol. 18: n°3, pp. 48-74. [CR]

• Report on Antisemitism in France, 2002-3 (to the European Moderating Center on Racism and Xenophobia, EUMC)

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Week 9. November 15-19.
Multiculturalism, Communitarianism and Affirmative Action

First Session: French Affirmative Action?
Second Session: Guest Lecture. Daniel Sabbagh

• Michel Wieviorka, “Identity and Difference: Reflections on the French Non-Debate on Multiculturalism,” Thesis Eleven, (November, 1996), n°47, pp. 49-71. [CR]
• Driss El Yazami and Rémy Schwartz, Report to the Prime Minister for the Establishment of a National Center on the History and Cultures of Immigration, November 2001 (excerpts).
• Daniel Sabbagh, "Affirmative Action at Science Po," French Politics, Culture and Society 20.3 (Fall 2002).

III. National Identity

The ideal and traditional view of “French exceptionalism” has been challenged by both the presence of migrants (and of their children) in France, and the acceleration of globalization in recent years. This final section considers three articulations of the debate over identity: the  national (recent changes in nationality law); the European (the opposition to the integration of France into Europe); and the global (“French exceptionalism” in contemporary economics, politics and culture).

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Week 10. Nov 29-Dec 3.
Republican Law

First Session: Citizenship
Second Session: Exclusion in the Suburbs

• Ardagh, France, 199-219
• Maxim Silverman, Deconstructing the Nation : Immigration, Race and Citizenship in Modern France, London, Routledge, 1992, chapter 5 "Nationality and Citizenship," p. 126-152. [CR]
• Feldblum, Reconstructing Citizenship, ch. 8.
• Patrick Weil, “Introduction” to Mission d’étude des législations sur l’immigration et la nationalité, Report to the Prime Minister, Paris, La Documentation française, 1997.
• Nicola Cooper, "'Stop la Violence':  Responses to Delinquency and Urban Violence in Contemporary France," Modern and Contemporary France (2000) vol. 8: no. 1, pp. 91-102.

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Week 11. November 29-December 3.
Islam in France

First Session: The Affairs of the Headscarf
Second Session: French Secularism: guest lecture, Patrick Weil

• Feldblum, Reconstructing Citizenship, pp. 129-145.
• Gilles Kepel, "France, Land of Islam," in Allah in the West, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997). [CR]
• Caitlin Killian, "The Other Side of the Veil. North African Women in France Respond to the Headscarf Affair," Gender and Society, vol. 17, no. 4 (August 2003), pp. 567-90. [CR]

• Summary (with links) of the 2004 Law on French Secularism and the Headscarf and on Islam in France from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
• Incidents of Islamophobia in France as reported by genocidewatch.org (from the NYT)
• Comment and translation of Le Monde article of 5/12/03: "Intolerance Towards Islam" Under Scrutiny.
• David Jacobson, "France's Muslims: Two Views," Correspondence 9 (Spring 2002).

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Week 12. December 6-10.
The Enlargement of the Framework

First Session: The Promises and Threats of Europe
Second Session: The United States as the World?

• Philip H. Gordon and Sophie Meunier, “Globalization and French Cultural Identity,” French Politics, Culture, and Society, (Spring 2001), vol.19, No. 1, pp. 22-41. [CR]
• Michael J. Baun, “The Maastricht Treaty as High Politics: Germany, France, and European Integration”, Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 110, No. 4. (Winter 1995-1996), p. 605-624. [CR]
• Sophie Meunier, “The French Exception,” Foreign Affairs, (July-August, 2000), vol. 79 : n°4, pp. 104-116. [CR]
• Richard F. Kuisel, Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, Chapter 9  Vive l'Amérique  An Epilogue from 1970 to Euro Disneyland, p. 212-230. [CR]

• Bertram M. Gordon, "The Decline of a Cultural Icon: France in American Perspective," French Historical Studies, Vol. 22, No. 4. (Autumn 1999), pp. 625-651.
• Walter Russell Mead, "Why Do They Hate Us?  Two Books Take Aim at French Anti-Americanism," Foreign Affairs (March/April 2003).

Week 13. December 13-17.
REVIEW AND FINAL EXAM

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