The End of the French Exception?

Abstract

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.