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Readings

The table below includes the weekly readings, screenings, and facts covered in each class session. The following books are general reading to help prepare speeches, historical notes, and debates.

  • Buy at Amazon Forbes, Jill, and Michael Kelly, eds. French Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780198715016.
  • Buy at Amazon Brouard, Sylvain, Andrew Appleton, and Amy G. Mazur, eds. The French Fifth Republic at Fifty: Beyond Stereotypes. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. ISBN: 9780230221246.
  • Buy at Amazon Chafer, Tony, and Emmanuel Godin, eds. The End of the French Exception? Decline and Revival of the "French Model". Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. ISBN: 9780230220782.
  • Buy at Amazon Drake, Helen. Contemporary France. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. ISBN: 9780333792445.

 

SES # TOPICS READINGS, SCREENINGS, AND FACTS

The Settlement of the Fifth Republic (1958–1974)
1

Introduction. The Algerian War

Screening:

The Battle of Algiers. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. Black and White, 121 min, 1966.

Reading:

Malraux, André. Speech on the Transfer of Jean Moulin's ashes to the Panthéon (PDF), 1964.
2 The Imperial Presidency

Readings:

Charles de Gaulle, Discourse at Bayeux (1946) Translation in
Buy at Amazon Cogan, Charles G. Charles de Gaulle: A Brief Biography with Documents. Bedford / Saint Martin's, 1995, pp. 183–5. ISBN: 9780312107901.

Debré, Michel. Speech to the Council of State (PDF), 1958.

Facts:

The Majoritarian System
3 May 1968: A Moral Revolution?

Readings:

Buy at Amazon Ross, Kristen. "The Police Conception of History." Chapter 1 in May '68 and Its Afterlives. University of Chicago Press, 2004, pp. 19–25. ISBN: 9780226727998. [Preview with Google Books]

Constitutional Council. Freedom of Association Decision (PDF), 1971.

Facts:

The Constitutional Domain
The Liberalization of the Regime (1974–1988)
4 A New Generation

Screening:

Going Places. Directed by Bertrand Blier. Color, 150 min, 1974.
5 The Socialist Era

Readings:

Mitterrand, François. Speech at Epinay (PDF), 1971.

CSA. Deliberation Relative to the Evaluation of the Respect of Political Pluralism in the Media (PDF), 2000.

Facts:

Decentralization
6 The Liberal Turning Point and the Cohabitation

Readings:

D'Estaing, Valéry Giscard. Speech at Verdun sur le Doubs (PDF), 1978.

Buy at Amazon Smith, Timothy. "The Misunderstood French Welfare State." Chapter 1 in France in Crisis: Welfare, Inequality, and Globalization since 1980. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 1–15. ISBN: 9780521605205. [Preview with Google Books]

Facts:

Cohabitation
The Times of Crises (1988–Present)
7 Revisiting France's Past

Screening:

The Last Mitterrand. Directed by Robert Guédiguian. Color, 116 min, 2005.
8 European Doubts

Readings:

Schuman, Robert. Declaration on the ECSC (PDF), 1950.

Chirac, Jacques. Cochin Appeal (PDF), 1978.

France and the Euro. "The Time-Bomb at the Heart of Europe. Why France could become the Biggest Danger to Europe's Single Currency." The Economist, November, 2012.
9 Identities and the Nation

Reading:

Buy at Amazon Scott, Joan W. "Sexuality." Chapter 5 in The Politics of the Veil. Princeton University Press, 2007, pp. 151–74. ISBN: 9780691125435. [Preview with Google Books]
Are You The Future French President?
10 A New Political System?

Screening:

The Conquest. Directed by Xavier Durringer. Color, 105 min, 2011.
11 Final Statement  No readings.
12 "Presidential Debate"  No readings.