Why sixty million frenchmen

This country is France. Now imagine a country where citizens have so little civic sense they never give to charity; a country where a quarter of the work force is employed by the government, and where people expect the State to do everything. That country is France, too. Nov 18, Christopher rated it liked it Shelves: france. I was hoping I had found a book that was an in depth look at the culture and traditions of the French.

This was more of a look at the government and political structures of France. Parts were so boring, I actually wound up just skimming the last bit of the book for something interesting to read.

Sep 22, Melissa rated it did not like it. This book was so poorly written and had so many grammatical errors that I couldn't read it. Aug 30, Tim Martin rated it it was amazing Shelves: reviewed , france , history. France is a land of contradictions. It is nation where people have seven weeks of paid vacation a year, generally take an hour and a half for lunch, have one of the longest life expectancies on the planet, work in the fourth largest economy in the world, and have one of the finest health care systems in the world.

It is also a nation that has one of the lowest rates of charitable donations in the developed world, where people expect the State to do everything because they pay so much in taxes, w France is a land of contradictions. It is also a nation that has one of the lowest rates of charitable donations in the developed world, where people expect the State to do everything because they pay so much in taxes, where the civil service makes up about a quarter of the working population, and where local initiative or self-rule is virtually non-existent.

What explains these many paradoxes? Authors Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow sought to discover the source of these contrasts and to learn why the French were so different. Living for three years in France, they worked almost as ethnologists, delving into all aspects of French political, cultural, and economic life, uncovering many things from an outsider's perspective.

Writing about the French civil service, economy, media, education, charities, unions, social welfare system, courts, politics, foreign policy, history, and language, they provide a thorough and very readable primer on all things French. One thing they point out is that the French as a people love power. They have a great disdain for compromise - both in politics and even in personal conversations - instead preferring winners and losers, embracing particularly in politics what the authors termed "jusqu'au-boustisme" until-the-bitter-end-ism , of the tendency in politics to pursue winning even to destructive ends.

An ultimate expression of this might be found in the fact that State is absolute in French politics and society; it tolerates no rivals, whether it was the Catholic clergy's onetime dominance over the nation's education system or the existence of any meaningful regional government tied to a local culture, though the latter has changed some in recent years. The French love for their politicians to exhibit grandeur and the politicians love to exhibit it , practicing something called cumul des mandates or simply the cumul ; it is possible for one to hold more than one elected office at the same time for instance for a time President Jacques Chirac was also mayor of Paris, the prime minister, deputy from his home region of Correze, and a deputy in the European Parliament.

Indeed the French President is one of the most powerful heads of state in the democratic world, in many ways more powerful that the American President. Some of this lover of grandeur is exhibited in the fact that the French state is very much a unitary one, not a federal one; the central government in Paris reigns supreme, even in matters in the U. For instance the mayor of Paris does not control local police or transport, but they are instead controlled by the central government.

Only towns of less than ten thousand citizens are allowed to control their own police. This tendency to have a highly centralized, almost absolutist democracy though is not entirely due to a French love of grandeur. Much of dates back to the centuries long attempts to create the nation of France and keep it together, to impose French culture and language on more distant regions. At the time of the Revolution, the doctrine of the Republique was that "nothing should come between the citizen and the State.

Though France has levels of local administration - the Commune, the Department, and the Region - these do not exactly correspond to Canadian provinces or American states in that they have no sovereign rights themselves or exhibit any significant sense of French separation of powers, but instead are for the most part representatives of the central government.

In the case of the 99 Departments, they were created as a result of the Revolution, often designed to deliberately break up regional identities, dividing lands with local identities into more than one Department, often given non-historical, sometimes deliberately meaningless names.

The advent of the Region in reversed this to an extent, as Regions reflect natural cultural divisions in France, such as the areas inhabited by the Bretons, Occitan, or Corsicans, though some in France fear that this may lead to federalism one day while at the same time France has given increasing powers to the supranational European Union.

This is not to say that the French State is anti-democratic; it was founded with three principles, assimilation or eradication des particularismes; eradication of local differences , interet general or common good , and equality not only equality of opportunity but also equal or identical law throughout France. The principle of assimilation had been a driving force in creating the Departments though ironically has made integration of the growing Muslim community in France difficult as it has until recently been regarded as illegal to even recognize special status or differences among French citizens.

There are checks on the Republique. In addition to civil and criminal law, the French have administrative law, an entirely parallel legal system for dealing with matters relating how the State relates to the citizens, administrative tribunals that can rule against government and the state. The growing independence of judges is another check. Protests are a way of life in France, a legitimate method for citizens to curb the system, the authors detailing this uniquely French form of political expression at some length.

I have barely scratched the surface in my review of this fascinating book. It is an absolute must read for anyone wanting to do business or live in France. Oct 21, Cynda rated it really liked it Shelves: french , journey , government , sociology-culture , read I read this book to gain a baseline understanding of the French.

By reading this book I found some characteristics of the culture that charmed. Why does a democracy--such as US, particularly US--have to dumb everything down to the lowest denominator. Bestsellers are written at an increasingly lower educational level. Popular culture becomes more and brutal with a great amount of disrespect and brutality.

Instead in France, the French insist and largely succeed in democratizing culture by bringin I read this book to gain a baseline understanding of the French. Instead in France, the French insist and largely succeed in democratizing culture by bringing culture up to the highest levels. The French culture is another human construct with inherent limitations. Having reading how French democratize up, I now have a new argument and corresponding example of how democratized socialism can make the US better.

The negative maybe bearable if we have a better level of social equality. We may not have to hope, pray, beg, etc. Mar 17, Vanonearth rated it really liked it. Written in , some descriptions on France might not be applicable to today. But I was impressed by the indepth research on French history, culture, politics, economy, society etc. Some of them could be subjective, but it's always good to understand the views from different perspectives.

May 21, Brent Barker rated it liked it. Dec 15, Michael rated it it was amazing. I can't recommend this highly enough. Smartly written insights on modern France but from a deep historical perspective. It's really really good! Jan 02, Carrie rated it it was ok. While the book has given me a copious amount of topics to discuss with my friends in France there are many down sides to this book. Many interesting historical facts and it is a straight forward clearly written book but, yes here is the but There are many things stated which the authors tried to pass off as specifically 'French' when in actual fact these are While the book has given me a copious amount of topics to discuss with my friends in France there are many down sides to this book.

There are many things stated which the authors tried to pass off as specifically 'French' when in actual fact these are traits, habits or whatever you want to call them that have been in Europe long before this book was written.

To assume all of The Netherlands has the open curtain policy is written by what a day or two in Amsterdam? The authors did a magnificent job of researching France but in that they forgot to research Europe as a whole.

So if you decide to read this book do remember it was written quite some years ago and with perhaps a biased opinion since the authors clearly favor France. Jan 06, John Jenkins rated it liked it Shelves: travel. They also describe how the French are evolving in what the authors portray as mostly positive ways.

I like to use my kindle to highlight remarkable insights and thought-provoking relevations, and this book has more highlights than any other kindle book I have read. There are many examples of the authors giving very favorable treatment to behaviors that are unique to the French and that North Americans might question.

One example that is frequently referred to deals with globalization. The authors present the rationalization for this act of protest as a result of the unique relationship that the French have with their land. The authors make this act of protest seem almost understandable, but they never discuss the complete disregard by the protestors for the property of others, so this argument is difficult for me to appreciate.

On the other hand, the authors make a very sound argument in support of French journalism. The International Herald Tribune a partnership of the New York Times and the Washington Post at the time published a story in about the interaction between France and the United States following windstorms that destroyed millions of trees in France. According to the IHT, after the storm, middle school students from Fayetteville, Georgia persuaded the Forestry Association to donate five thousand trees so France could replace the lost Versailles trees.

The French returned three thousand seedlings because they failed to meet European Union regulations. The American writers did not specifically criticize the French, but they seemed to intentionally leave the impression that French bureaucrats were the villains in the story.

The appendixes add much value to this book, but the absence of footnotes raises questions. The authors claim to be business writers, but some of their financial assertions seem questionable. For example, even though the authors were in France while France was transitioning from francs to euros, the authors show most financial amounts in pounds. And the authors exaggerate the strength of the French economy by labelling it the fourth strongest in the world.

In , it had the fifth highest GDP and in , it has the sixth highest. Edit Delete Mar 25, Ellie rated it liked it. This book started off really engaging but the middle section is a right slog to get through. Incidentally the end section seems to be one long conclusion rather than adding much else. A good book but could have done with being pages shorter.

Dec 09, Chris Jaffe rated it really liked it Shelves: 20th-century , european-history , history. This was a fascinating book about France and the people of France. But these are reporters from Quebec , not anthropologists. From a distance modern France looks like a riddle. It is both rigidly authoritarian, yet incredibly inventive; traditional even archaic yet modern; lacking clout on the international stage yet still hugely influential. But with the observations, anecdotes and analysis of the authors, who spent nearly three years living in France, it begins to makes sense.

Plan Your Visit! Masks Highly Recommended. Library Closings: Wednesday, November Description: xv, pages ; 21 cm. Keep it for yourself or buy one as a gift for a Francophile or France lover!