The October Riots in France: A Failed Immigration Policy or the Empire Strikes Back?

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn October 2005, the predominately Arab‐immigrant suburbs of Paris, Lyon, Lille and other French cities erupted in riots by socially alienated teenagers, many of them second‐ or third‐generation immigrants. For many French observers, it was a painful reminder that France's immigration policy had, quite bluntly, failed. The grand French ideal of égalité, the equality of all citizens of the Republic, itself a by‐product of France's colonial past, demonstrated its incompatibility with twenty‐first century reality.The French immigration experience is markedly different than those of other European countries, as France's is tainted by colonial history, republican idealism, a rigidly centralized government structure, and deep‐seeded traditions of xenophobia. Indeed, the nineteenth century French policy of the mission civilicatrice (civilizing mission) still influences French policy toward its immigrants today: rather than accept cultural differences, the French government demands that all its citizens adhere to a rigid and exclusive “French” identity.As such, the children of the generation of immigrants that the French government actively brought to France to fuel its post‐war expansion now find themselves unemployed and socially marginalized. Government social structures meant to ease the disparity between social classes, such as public housing and education, generally do more to aggravate problems than to solve them; public housing is woefully inadequate and the education structure institutionalizes the poor quality of schools in immigrant communities. Despite this generally poor outlook, the French have recently made some progress toward better integration of their immigrant communities, though these efforts are generally met with wide‐spread demagogic and populist opposition.