France's role in the world underwent profound
changes during the twentieth century: the country possessed the second
largest colonial empire and was among the dominant powers in both Europe
and the world in 1900 but lost much of its international weight during
the course of the century. France retained its independence even facing
the bipolar world of the Cold War, maintained considerable cultural
autonomy despite globalization, but ceased to be the international player
she had been during the nineteenth century. Tyler Stovall critically
examines France's development during the five decades following the
Second World War and provides the reader with a sense of the the profound
changes that France underwent. His clear and easily understandable analysis
not only presents historical developments in a fluid narrative but also
discusses historical interpretation and recent scholarly debates.
Tyler E. Stovall earned his Bachelor of Arts degree
from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He is currently working in the Department of History at the University
of California at Berkeley. His publications include Paris Noir: African
Americans in the City of Light, (Houghton Mifflin Press, 1996) and
The Rise of the Paris Red Belt, (UC Press, 1990); the focus of
his research on modern French social and political history enable Stovall
to condense France's postwar experience in a slim, introductory volume.
The Seminar Studies in History series
is intended to bridge the gap between the highly specialized publications
of current research and general survey literature about a given historical
topic. The result is a series of brief studies about specific themes
in history written by experts who often have contributed to the latest
research. Each study is complemented by a guide to further reading
and a selection of documents relevant to the topic (Stovall 2002: ix).
France since the Second World War uses
a partly chronological, partly structural approach for the examination
of France's most important political, economic, and intellectual developments.
Stovall begins his analysis with the political renewal in the immediate
postwar years and the difficult diplomatic situation of France between
the emerging superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The
strength of Communism, the integration into the Western alliance, and
the importance of the wartime Resistance movement for French identity
are the most emphasized topics of the first analytical chapter, Liberation
and Renewal.
The following chapter shifts the emphasis somewhat
away from politics toward the economic development of France and the
cultural changes brought about by consumerism and the economic influence
of the United States, as French identity was challenged by þCoca-Colonization'
(Stovall 2002: 41).
Decolonization between 1945 and 1960 is the focus
of the third analytical chapter. Stovall especially emphasizes the inherent
contradiction of French œliberationist values" that France denied its
colonial citizens while turning against their colonizers' own
rhetoric (Stovall, 2002: 47). The disastrous struggle for the empire
in Indochina and Algeria is analyzed in domestic political terms as
well: the Communist party's alienation from parliamentary politics and
de Gaulle's efforts to maintain beneficial relations with the former
African colonies are in the center of the argument.
The next chapter focuses on the development of
the intellectual elite, the riots of May 1986, and the ideological shift
of the intelligentsia from the political left to conservatism. Stovall
elucidates existentialism, structuralism, and post-structuralism in
their cultural and political context familiarizing the reader with the
perspectives of the culturally influential intellectuals.
The last chapter contains analyses of the Mitterrand
era from the angles of economical and political administration, historical
perception, and racial conflict. This part of the book contains the
most controversial issues and, most importantly, the issues that France
is still dealing with today: economic stagnation, the reevaluation of
France's role under the Vichy administration (1940-1944), and the social
consequences of immigration without integration. A brief chapter titled
Into the New Millennium assesses in a more general way the changes
of French politics, culture, and identity during the second half of
the twentieth century.
In addition to a thorough analysis of French politics
and economy, the most important topic of Stovall's argument for France
as an ever-evolving nation that is able to respond to modern challenges
is the development of French identity. The ideal of having collectively
resisted Nazi Germany and the Vichy Regime provided the moral and political
basis for the preservation of French national honor (Stovall 2002: 4).
Participation in the Resistance movement remained a political (and moral)
requirement until the beginning of the Mitterrand era. A more critical
engagement with the Vichy regime ' specifically the collaboration with
Nazi Germany and the involvement of the French in the Holocaust ' began
during the 1970s, but only caused a œnational crisis of conscience"
in the 1980s and 1990s (Stovall 2002: 92). Stovall draws on the recent
and ongoing scholarly debate about Vichy and the collective memory of
it which was begun by Henry Rousso's The Vichy Syndrome: History
and Memory in France since 1944 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1991).
Further challenges to French national
and cultural identity were posed by economic globalization and the influence
of American consumer culture as well as the influx of Muslim immigrants.
Immigration and the ensuing conflicts with France's
Catholic and occidental culture and society
that arose from primarily African communities in large cities' suburbs
are presented as a very contemporary topic. Even if Stovall mentions
that France had been a country of immigration for a century and politicians
were debating if immigration of labor was intended to be temporary or
permanent (Stovall 2002: 39-41), he does not draw the conclusion that
the French governments failed to integrate immigrants into society effectively
. Current riots by second generation immigrants in the suburbs of Paris
and other large cities have demonstrated this political failure very
clearly.
The effects of political, economic, and
cultural change of French identity have thus been profound; being French
had to be defined again and again in the light of the challenges of
the postwar decades. Stovall's conclusion uses the extremely positive
examples of the 1998 soccer world cup and the celebration of the new
millennium to demonstrate that the French have ultimately been able
to adapt to peace, political moderation, and racial tolerance.
France since the Second World War employs
a classical top-down approach to most recent French history, a master
narrative that provides the reader with the most important features
of France's development between 1945 and 2000. It is useful and common
for general introductory surveys like Stovall's book to emphasize the
political and economic developments heavily. It is regrettable, though,
that in his depiction with the exception of the riots of 1968, the French
lack agency. The book introduces consumer culture, the feminist movement,
the generation gap, and issues of cultural and racial integration. All
of those, however, are either dealt with very briefly or presented in
a rather political focus.
French identity is Stovall's key to understanding
France's development since the Second World War. While this perspective
enables him to examine France from within, it clearly limits his analysis
of France's position in the world. To be sure, the book explains well
France's struggle for some level of independence within the Cold War
confrontation. Issues such as the implications of the termination of
French imperialism for the former colonies might have been useful for
a global contex, but are left out, most likely, due to the required
brevity and national focus of the book. Topics like global migration,
ecology, and energy would have made for interesting aspects of French
development but go beyond the scope of an introductory general history.
France since the Second World War fully
lives up to the reader's expectations of a brief introduction to both
the general history and current scholarly debates about French history
after 1945. It will be most useful as an introductory text for undergraduate
students of French history or modern society but also for a more general
audience seeking basic information about these themes or looking for
a brief introduction to current scholarly debates. An important part
of France since the Second World War is contained in the fourth
part of the book: a series of documents, glossary, who's who, a guide
to further reading. A chronology is provided at the very beginning of
the book. While the documents seem to overemphasize the political developments
of the 1950s and 1960s, these sections are extremely useful to stimulate
debates among students and to encourage further thought.
Despite the book's heavy emphasis on
politics and economy, many cultural and societal issues are introduced
to the reader. The value of Stovall's book lies in the combination of
breadth and depth, the broad variation of topics, and the apt creation
of a coherent historical and societal picture of how France has changed
since World War II.