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Eternal France: Crisis and National Self-Perception in France, 1870–2005

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Nations and their Histories

Abstract

The rejection by the French electorate of the European Constitutional Treaty on 29 May 2005 effectively brought the movement towards a federal Europe to a stop. It might be interpreted as purely contingent, an aberrant victory of the ‘little French’, Eurosceptic tendency that had been held at bay by the pro-European liberal élite in the Maastricht vote of 1992 but now took its turn to triumph. France was divided into Europhile and Europhobe tendencies which were fairly evenly balanced and a further vote would see the majority pass back to the Europhiles. The effectiveness of the anti-federalist campaign, however, suggested that the result of 2005 was not an unexpected event but the expression of a deep-seated anxiety about outside threats to French national identity which has in fact manifested itself frequently at times of national crisis.

Her glorious fatherland is henceforth the pilot of humanity’s vessel.

Jules Michelet (1972 [1831], p. 227)

We have all peasant ancestors.

Claude Michelet (1975, p. 14)

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Authors
  1. Robert Gildea
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

    Susana Carvalho

  2. Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies, University of Liège, Belgium

    François Gemenne

  3. Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, Sciences Po, Paris, France

    François Gemenne

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© 2009 Robert Gildea

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Gildea, R. (2009). Eternal France: Crisis and National Self-Perception in France, 1870–2005. In: Carvalho, S., Gemenne, F. (eds) Nations and their Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230245273_9

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