Special issue on critical French citizenship

2012

Previous research has paid much attention to citizen dissatisfaction and the trends of growing political disaffection, cynicism, and scepticism – in short, the emergence of 'critical citizens'. Also, more recently, critical citizens have sometimes been viewed as an asset for democracy. However, despite both pessimistic and optimistic interpretations of public criticism, the issue of conceptualizing negative attitudes has received less attention. The present study was conducted to enrich understanding of this particular dimension of citizens' attitudes. To this end, the paper suggests an alternative theoretical framework for analysing various forms of negative political orientations. The framework has been tested empirically using three types of statistical procedures, which demonstrate its validity and usefulness.

French History, 2016

This book is an original and sophisticated historical interpretation of contemporary French political culture. Until now, there have been few attempts to understand the political consequences of the profound geopolitical, intellectual and economic changes that France has undergone since the 1970s. However, Emile Chabal's detailed study shows how passionate debates over citizenship, immigration, colonial memory, the reform of the state and the historiography of modern France have galvanised the French elite and created new spaces for discussion and disagreement. Many of these debates have coalesced around two political languagesrepublicanism and liberalismboth of which structure the historical imagination and the symbolic vocabulary of French political actors. The tension between these two political languages has become the central battleground of contemporary French politics. It is around these two poles that politicians, intellectuals and members of France's vast civil society have tried to negotiate the formidable challenges of ideological uncertainty and a renewed sense of global insecurity.

2000

Strategic Recherche Research et analyse and Analysis stratégiques Direction du Multiculturalisme Direction de la Participation des citoyens FOREWORD This study was commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage (Citizens' Participation, Multiculturalism and Strategic Research and Analysis Directorates) to support policy and program development in the Department and to advance the research agenda of the Citizenship Education Research Network (CERN). The study is in two parts. Part I includes the conceptual framework as well as a brief comparative analysis of citizenship in six jurisdictions. Part II includes more detailed country profiles, based on the conceptual framework, which present key dimensions of the citizenship debate in the United States, France, Australia, Great Britain, Canada and Canada (Quebec). Both parts of the study are available in French and English. The study was completed by France Gagnon and Michel Pagé of the Université de Montréal with the assistance of Marie McAndrew. The study was also assisted by an advisory committee consisting of Joe

2010

European Journal of Political Research, 2004

This article focuses on the political claims made by immigrants and ethnic minorities in France and Switzerland. We look at cross-national variations in the overall presence of immigrants and ethnic minorities in the national public space, and the forms and content of their claims. Following a political opportunity approach, we argue that claim-making is affected both by institutional opportunities and by national models of citizenship. The civicassimilationist conception of citizenship in France gives migrants greater legitimacy to intervene in the national public space. Furthermore, the inclusive definition of 'membership in the national community' favors claims pertaining to minority integration politics. However, the pressure toward assimilation to the republican norms and values tends to provoke claims for the recognition of ethnic and cultural difference. Finally, closed institutional opportunities push migrants' mobilization to become more radical, but at the same time the more inclusive model of citizenship favors a moderate action repertoire of migrants. Conversely, the ethnic-assimilationist view in Switzerland leads migrants to stress homeland-related claims. When they do address the policy field of ethnic relations, immigration and citizenship, they focus on issues pertaining to the entry and stay in the host society. Finally, the forms of action are more moderate due to the more open institutional context, but at the same time the action repertoire of migrants is moderated by the more exclusive model of citizenship. Our article is an attempt to specify the concept of 'political opportunity structure', and to combine institutional and cultural factors in explaining claim-making by immigrants and ethnic minorities. We confront our arguments with data from a comparative project on the mobilization on ethnic relations, citizenship and immigration.

The article aims to contribute to the empirical approach towards the study of democratic citizenship, while avoiding both reductionist and all-embracing uses of the concept. It deals with three issues: the identification of the phenomenon, the observation of the dynamics of change, and the assessment of the ongoing evolutions of citizenship. The return and escape of citizenship Since the beginning of the 1990s, theoretical and empirical research on citizenship has increased dramatically. The sheer number of books, articles, papers , journals, courses, seminars, and conferences published and organized around this subject makes it virtually impossible to provide a general overview. Likewise, we have seen citizenship emerge in the realm of public debate as an issue of the utmost importance for the future of democracy, both at the local and at the global level. Political leaders, policy makers, activists, experts and opinion makers have advanced and exchanged reflections and proposals. At the same time, governments and civil society organizations have enacted initiatives meant to place citizenship at the center of public attention. Active citizenship, which is to be promoted or sustained, has become a multipurpose buzzword, the solution to any societal need. The democratic quality of citizenship is at the center of this unforeseen return. It is the two-way link between the establishment, enrichment, and development of democratic regimes, and the emergence of the citizen; the citizen, within this framework, is both the generator of and generated by the democratic process. In sum, it can be asserted that while democratic citizenship used to be regarded, prior to 1989, as a dependent variable of political systems and democratic regimes, we can consider the Fall of the Berlin Wall as a symbolic turning point, after which democratic citizenship has been thought to possess intrinsic value from both the heuristic and etiological standpoints.

Questions of citizenship and national identity are very closely related since the former commands the definition and representation of the nation, that is national identity itself, and addresses the jurisdictional process that led to specific legislation being formed, which gradually brought about the determination of legal distinctions between citizens and foreigners. From this perspective, what was this process in French modern history after the collapse of the monarchy and the establishment of a new republican model in 1792? Indeed, contrary to what has been argued in the political debate of the last twenty years, the ‘right of soil’ or jus soli – which means for those born on national territory the legitimate right to become French in due time – did not prevail over the ‘right of blood’ or jus sanguinis – which allows only the children of Frenchmen to claim French nationality – over a long period of our modern and more recent history. This chapter has three aims. Firstly, to explain broadly how the French nationhood has been defined over the last two centuries; secondly, to reveal the vicissitudes of a legal process that finally led to the French people becoming a ‘melting pot’ of nations from the beginning of the 20th century until today, and thirdly, to show how the definition and limitation of citizenship suffered considerably from the changing economical and politi- cal context, especially during the Second World War and, from the 1970s in a long period of economical and social crisis. The conclusion will question the legitimacy and consistency of the French model of integration and also the French ‘melting pot’ issue that is the crucial question of national identity.

2020

Traditionally, citizenship has been defined as the legal and political link between individuals and their democratic political community. However, traditional conceptions of democratic citizenship are currently challenged by various developments like migration, the rise of populism, increasing polarization, social fragmentation, and the challenging of representative democracy as well as developments in digital communication technology. Against this background, this peer reviewed book reflects recent conceptions of citizenship by bringing together insights from different disciplines, such as political science, sociology, economics, law, and history.

Edition Politik, 2021

Traditionally, citizenship has been defined as the legal and political link between individuals and their democratic political community. However, traditional conceptions of democratic citizenship are currently challenged by various developments like migration, the rise of populism, increasing polarization, social fragmentation, and the challenging of representative democracy as well as developments in digital communication technology. Against this background, this peer reviewed book reflects recent conceptions of citizenship by bringing together insights from different disciplines, such as political science, sociology, economics, law, and history.

EUROPEAN UNION DEMOCRACY OBSERVATORY …

The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), directed by Stefano Bartolini since September 2006, is home to a large post-doctoral programme. Created in 1992, it aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.