Contemporary French History Research Articles

Raymond Aron’s War: A ‘History of the Present’ (1940–1944)

Raymond Aron’s exile in Great Britain during the Second World War was a less-known yet formative part of his career, during which he co-founded the journal La France libre. The articles he published between 1940 and 1944 in La France libre from London have previously been studied in a fragmented manner, but they have not yet been analyzed as a whole. This essay examines Aron’s articles compiled in Volume I of the Chroniques de guerre ( ‘From the Armistice to the National Insurrection’). Volumes II and III of Aron’s wartime articles merit their own separate analyses. The first objective of this essay is to present the theoretical contributions made by Aron in Volume I of his La France libre articles, with regard to a ‘history of the present.’ It argues that Aron adopted an ingenious approach to analyzing the history of the war as it unfolded, building upon his own philosophy of history from the Interwar. The second objective of the essay is to show that Aron’s wartime writings also marked his shift from being a scholar to entering “ l’engagement”: committing to political stances. In this regard, his anti-Gaullism in London has been generally overstated relative to his far more elaborate stances on contemporary French history. Revisited, Aron’s wartime articles thus help complete the picture of his career.

Innocence, Ignorance et Arrogance : Les Trois Grâces de l’Anti-Noirité en France

In 2020, George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis triggered the biggest anti-racism movement in contemporary French history and laid bare the racial divides long hidden by discourse emphasizing France’s republican values. Written against the backdrop of this unprecedented “racial spring,” this article analyzes three common stances towards anti-racism in the French context of memory and identity: innocence, ignorance and arrogance, and the ways in which these three postures are presently challenged by a generation of French who have long experienced erasure by the universalist myth. Their actions underline the need to examine the blind spots in French history and question the flaws in the republican ideal, and ultimately to build a shared, truly universalist narrative that reflects multiple perspectives. Far from disguising secessionist inclinations, the struggles of these emerging anti-racist movements reflect a real demand being made of the French Republic.

Extending Democracy: Railway Workers and the Popular Front in France, 1936–1938

French railway workers played no part in the historic Popular Front strikes and workplace occupations of May–June 1936. Yet, in November 1938, this group of workers placed themselves in the vanguard of attempts to defend the social legislation passed by the Blum government. Both events have been analysed as evidence of the reformist aims and materialist calculations of French railway workers in the interwar period. Following the failure of the 1920 general strike, railway workers are understood to have renounced political militancy, embracing a narrow corporatist vision of industrial relations. Their attempted participation in the 30 November 1938 general strike has been similarly read as a defence of material interests. In contrast to such views this article argues that railway trade unionism in the Popular Front period built upon well-developed communist policies emphasizing workplace dignity and the extension of worker power within both the railway industry and capitalism more widely. Rather than pursuing purely materialist calculations, union policy sought to defend a vision for French industrial relations predicated upon shared responsibility and partnership between management and labour in economic decision making. Such an analysis raises questions regarding the wider meaning of the Popular Front for French workers and its longer-term significance in contemporary French history.

French primitivism and the ends of empire, 1945-1975

For over a century, the idea of primitivism has motivated artistic modernism. Focusing on the three decades after World War II, known in France as les trentes glorieuses despite the loss of most of the country's colonial empire, this probing and expansive book argues that primitivism played a key role in a French society marked by both economic growth and political turmoil. In a series of chapters that consider significant aspects of French culture - including the creation of new museums of French folklore and of African and Oceanic arts and the development of tourism against the backdrop of nuclear testing in French Polynesia - Daniel J. Sherman shows how primitivism, a collective fantasy born of the colonial encounter, proved adaptable to a post-colonial, inward-looking age of mass consumption. Following the likes of Claude Levi-Strauss, Andre Putman, and Jean Dubuffet through decorating magazines, museum galleries, and Tahiti's pristine lagoons, this interdisciplinary study provides a new perspective on primitivism as a cultural phenomenon and offers fresh insights into the eccentric edges of contemporary French history.

Fascism, populism and the French Fifth Republic: in the shadow of democracy

How can a nation associated with the Declaration of the Rights of Man serve as the context for a successful populist party of the far right? This book brings to the fore the reasons behind this apparent paradox. Using the tools of comparative politics to examine the ideological components of the French Front National (FN) and the manner in which these have interacted with contemporary French institutions, the author argues that Fifth Republican France offers an ideal set of opportunities for Jean Marie Le Pen's party. Fieschi shows how, since 1958, French institutions have provided the FN with numerous ways in which to permeate French politics as well as how the FN and Jean Marie Le Pen in particular organised the party's strategy in order to best respond to the opportunities offered. The book will be essential reading for students of European and French politics, contemporary French history and those studying right-wing political ideology and comparative politics.

Catholicisme, protestantisme et laïcité: Réflexion sur la trace religieuse dans l'histoire contemporaine de la France

This article examines the traces of Protestantism in contemporary French history and political culture. After contextualising the legacies of Protestantism and Catholicism and recalling the latter's primary role in conceptions of French identity, the study focusses on how Protestant cultural influences came to bear. The article weighs the contributions of renowned Protestant historians and politicians, in the case of the latter, right down to the contemporary period.

Senghor's Rise to Power 1948–1951. Early Roots of French Sub-Saharan Decolonisation

The historiography of the decolonisation of the French overseas empire offers its students a highly mixed picture. While the atrocities committed during the independence wars in Indochina and Algeria belong to the black pages of contemporary French history, the decolonisation of the French sub-Saharan territories is presented in a much more positive light. In 1960, France ‘gracefully’ agreed to the independence of fourteen of its African territories, after which close relations with the regimes of nearly all those states were nurtured until at least the 1980s. This smooth transfer of power is all the more remarkable when one compares it to the much more problematic British and Portuguese decolonisations in black Africa. How did the French do it? Or should one say: how did the Africans in the French territories do it? In this paper, I will attempt to unveil some of the critical political processes that took place in Senegal at the end of the 1940s, because this period was crucial in the formulation of die relation between French policymakers and an upcoming African political elite. In many ways, die processes that took place in Senegal during this period would determine die course of French policy towards all of its African possessions. A study of this period seems therefore more than justified.

Conflits et contradictions dans la France d'aujourd'hui

L'assemblée qui m'a fait l'honneur de m'appeler au Collège de France a voulu d'abord rétablir dans ses enseignements, après trois années d'interruption, une place pour l'histoire contemporaine.Ce n'était pas une des traditions les plus anciennes et les plus caractéristiques de la Maison. La première chaire d'histoire récente (par opposition à l'antiquité classique) remonte à 1769, et les cours de ses titulaires successifs ne se sont guère approchés des temps brûlants et proches. Il y eut bien Michelet, mais on s'aperçoit, à l'examen, que, dans la série des titulaires de la vieille chaire d'histoire générale, il fut exceptionnel, plutôt que typique.

Picturing the People: Images of the Lower Orders in Nineteenth-Century French Art

Picturing the People: Images of the Lower Orders in NineteenthCentury French Art If the images that artists create directly connect to the culture of their time, then the pictures painted, etched, and drawn in France between 1815 and the i86os should be rich in representations of the people-of the people as peasants and workers, of the people seen as the lower orders in crowded slums or rural hovels, and as the classes dangereuses who filled social commentary. The expectation that the lower classes should be frequently depicted in nineteenth-century French art would rest on more than the naive assumption that art must illustrate its era, for the sights of that age-thousands of immigrants and endless construction while the population of Paris trebled, new machines and industries, political demonstrations, barricades, and revolutionmight well have stimulated the artistic eye. The culture as a whole was greatly concerned about these matters. They were the subject of novels (many of which are still read) and of systematic field studies (now remembered primarily for contributing to the birth of modern social science). They were the object of important political and religious movements and of innumerable programs for reform. They were discussed at the meetings of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, in sermons, in parliament, and in pamphlets and daily newspapers. Not only were pauperism, prisons, crime, illegitimacy, and illiteracy recognized as critical problems for modern France, but contemporary French history was also believed to have played a peculiarly exemplary role in the course of modern civilization.1

Vichy France and Postwar Economic Modernization: The Case of the Shopkeepers

One of the most interesting debates in contemporary French history is on the significance of the Vichy regime, notably the impact of its social and economic reforms on postwar France. In the immediate aftermath of the war, Vichy was regarded with shame as a regime which had slavishly carried out the whims of the occupying power. It was convenient for the alliance, swept into power at the Liberation, to think of the Vichy period as four lost years, the annees noires, during which all reform efforts were merely German impositions which failed to reflect French social realities. The Liberation had wiped the slate clean, and a reunited nation could begin to enact the changes to enable it to regain its old grandeur in a changing world. More recent historical work has brought about a reassessment of Vichy, placing much more emphasis on the continuity between Vichy and postwar France.' The aim of this article is to contribute to

The Heritage and Prospects of the Fifth Republic

Previous articleNext article No AccessReview ArticlesThe Heritage and Prospects of the Fifth RepublicEdward R. TannenbaumEdward R. Tannenbaum Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 33, Number 2Jun., 1961 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/238783 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1961 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.