n “Fixing France,” French-Algerian journalist Nabila Ramdani offers an incisive and penetrating analysis at the state of modern France and finds the Fifth Republic sorely wanting. It is one of the few books in English that explore not the romantic notions of France, but the state of the country today. Book store shelves increasingly groan under the weight of travel guides to Paris, French-style cookbooks, and Napoleonic-era histories. True, interesting, and compelling those these are, they oddly omit any sense of self-reflection or curiosity about France beyond the façade. Given France’s role in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, one would expect there to be more accessible existential reflections on the imperfections of the Fifth Republic.
“Fixing France,” a copy of which was kindly provided by the publisher, is almost certain to ruffle Gallic feathers, and likely many of those enamored with everything French. The France she presents is not the romantic, Enlightenment-driven source of culture, philosophy, haute cuisine, and revolution. It is a country that certainly likes to present itself as keeping to its idealized liberté, égalité, fraternité, but, in practice, only for some—for those with the right background, education, gender, and connections.
Ramdani spares few sensitivities in her exploration of the state’s failings. It is an impassioned critique of the Fifth Republic, but it is not a nihilistic exercise in deconstruction. Rather, in exploring the totality of the challenges facing France and exposing uncomfortable truths, she hopes to reinvigorate and strengthen the country. And the challenges she finds are legion.
In “Fixing France,” Ramdani lands on a key challenge affecting many late-stage capitalist, modern Western democracies, the United States included: What is the future of the national social contract in a truly globalized and increasingly populist era? Clearly neither the United States, the United Kingdom, nor France have settled on an answer, though each are clearly in different places in fielding that query.
Where Western countries differ in answering this question is in their unique political systems and structures, complex (and often painful) histories and legacies, and differing geopolitical realities. America’s constitutional system (that was not designed for two parties), the UK’s first-past-the-post parliamentary elections, and France’s imperial presidency (about which more, below) all shape how each country responds to this key question. An equivalent, biting look at “Fixing America” or “Fixing the United Kingdom” would almost certainly find similar shortcomings and systemic failings to those Ramdani finds in France.
Ramdani is certainly well placed to ask this question and offer an incisive response. As a French-Algerian reporter, and a woman, she has first-hand experience with many of the issues about which she writes. This brings a particular poignancy to her analysis. Whether witnessing the effects of government neglect in minority-dominant communities, the inability to integrate migrant communities, or extend the rights and privileges to its multi-ethnic citizens, casual systemic bias or overt racism of the far-right, or the ossified education system, Ramdani writes with a careful analytical eye informed by her own lived experiences.
In elucidating the shortcomings of the Fifth Republic, Ramdani offers a rather clear-eyed and cogent exploration of how the French political and economic system works in practice as well as how it is supposed to work in theory. It is both a critique and a guide for modern France.
For Ramdani, France is falling desperately short of those Enlightenment ideals and aspirations and, as a result, is failing to meet the needs of all its citizens. In her telling, the problems begin at the top with the imperial presidency at the head of the Fifth Republic. Meant as an expedient solution to the Algiers Crisis of 1958 (a political crisis during the Algerian Civil War that brought down the Fourth Republic), it has lasted until today. The crisis brought back Charles de Gaulle, who centralized power within the presidency, reducing the power of parliament. While perhaps appropriate to the crisis of 1958, Ramdani believes it has outlived its utility, catering not to the needs of all French society, but a narrower definition of the French citizen.
A key fear throughout Ramdani’s book is the risk that the office holder of the Fifth Republic’s imperial presidency subscribes to far-right beliefs, such as those held by Marine le Pen and her Rassemblement National party. This is not an idle fear as le Pen has steadily improved her party’s performance in France’s elections and has sought to soften the far right’s often outright racist messaging in favor of more populist narratives. This is a central challenge of strong executives—it is a welcome situation so long as the occupant is moderate or in line with one’s ideology, far less so when the opposition holds the office.
The troubles she finds are fruits from the poisoned tree of the imperial presidency. With few checks on the president’s powers, there is little incentive to accommodate different views or culture multi-partisanship. President Emanuel Macron’s pushing through of pension reform via executive fiat is perhaps most emblematic of this power. Yet, Ramdani finds that power in everything, from the militarization of France’s police and law enforcement to its unequal treatment of protests—the gilets jaunes or “yellow vest” movement was treated markedly less forcefully than protests in response to police brutality.
Ramdani sees an undercurrent of both overt and tacit racism in France toward not just immigrant populations, but also French citizens who are not seen as traditionally French e.g., Muslims. For her, France pursues not true multiculturalism, but the fig leaf of the concept of the citizen—everyone is a citizen and equal. While welcome philosophically, in practice it leads to systemic tensions about issues of race and religion, such as the ban on headscarves.
Her criticisms about French society, culture, education, and politics are certainly her strongest and most poignant. Those about France’s economy and foreign policy are, by comparison, less so. She rightly points out that successive occupants of the office of the president have been found guilty of corruption, certainly fueled by the imperial presidency. Yet, France’s economic performance—while uneven, (not unique among late-stage capitalist countries)—has outperformed those of its European neighbors. Internationally France is struggling to find its place, with reactionary movements in Africa leading to coups and anti-French sentiment, and Macron seeking a more vocal and activist role on the European continent and the Indo-Pacific. This, again, is not wholly unique to France as America and Great Britain too are struggling to find their role at a time when the center of geopolitical gravity is moving aggressively toward the Indo-Pacific and China.
At its heart, the core recommendation and inescapable conclusion of “Fixing France” is that nothing short of the jettisoning of the Fifth Republic and the creation of a Sixth Republic will address the panoply of problems Ramdani outlines. It is certainly a bold note on which to end. She believes that more, not less, democracy is needed, and that change can only come about through the jettisoning of the imperial presidency. She does offer a few, select more tangible recommendations, but further exploration of these ideas would certainly be welcomed. It is unlikely that Macron or his successor in 2027 will acquiesce to the total overhaul of the republic, but more discrete actions are, perhaps, more realistic.
A reinvigoration of the country is not without precedent. “Reimagining the ideas and institutions that underpin France is all part of the republican tradition,” Ramdani writes. Macron himself argued as much, which she quotes at length:
“The art of being French is both deeply rooted and universal, to be attached to our history and our roots but able to embrace the future. It’s an ability to argue about everything endlessly and it is, very profoundly, an ability to refuse to adapt to a world which escapes us, to refuse to yield to the law of the survival of the strangest and to pursue a policy of resistance and ambition, for today and tomorrow.”
Truly appreciating a place requires acknowledging its flaws and faults, and believing that it can improve, becoming a better version of itself. For many, France exists only in ideals and abstractions. Embodied best, and perhaps only, by Paris, it is a country of exquisite food, fine art, and a lifestyle to which we all should aspire. That is an incomplete image. France is very much those things, for some. France is also a country in turmoil that, like many modern states in the West, is struggling to come to grips with its past and define a future in a rapidly changing and chaotic world. “The country is unable to reconcile competing forces such as rampant popular nationalism and increasing globalization,” writes Ramdani.
Not all will agree with Ramdani’s characterization of France or its issues, but that is okay, and in fact welcome. The value in her book is that it will challenge readers to consider uncomfortable and alternative truths and ask difficult questions. Only through such introspection can the right questions be asked and, more importantly, the right answers be found.
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Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité for the 21st Century
September 23, 2023
In her latest book, journalist Nabila Ramdani offers incisive analysis of the state of modern France. Ramdani’s is one of the few books to concentrate on the state of the country today, and finds the Fifth Republic sorely lacking in many ways, writes Joshua Huminski.
I
n “Fixing France,” French-Algerian journalist Nabila Ramdani offers an incisive and penetrating analysis at the state of modern France and finds the Fifth Republic sorely wanting. It is one of the few books in English that explore not the romantic notions of France, but the state of the country today. Book store shelves increasingly groan under the weight of travel guides to Paris, French-style cookbooks, and Napoleonic-era histories. True, interesting, and compelling those these are, they oddly omit any sense of self-reflection or curiosity about France beyond the façade. Given France’s role in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, one would expect there to be more accessible existential reflections on the imperfections of the Fifth Republic.
“Fixing France,” a copy of which was kindly provided by the publisher, is almost certain to ruffle Gallic feathers, and likely many of those enamored with everything French. The France she presents is not the romantic, Enlightenment-driven source of culture, philosophy, haute cuisine, and revolution. It is a country that certainly likes to present itself as keeping to its idealized liberté, égalité, fraternité, but, in practice, only for some—for those with the right background, education, gender, and connections.
Ramdani spares few sensitivities in her exploration of the state’s failings. It is an impassioned critique of the Fifth Republic, but it is not a nihilistic exercise in deconstruction. Rather, in exploring the totality of the challenges facing France and exposing uncomfortable truths, she hopes to reinvigorate and strengthen the country. And the challenges she finds are legion.
In “Fixing France,” Ramdani lands on a key challenge affecting many late-stage capitalist, modern Western democracies, the United States included: What is the future of the national social contract in a truly globalized and increasingly populist era? Clearly neither the United States, the United Kingdom, nor France have settled on an answer, though each are clearly in different places in fielding that query.
Where Western countries differ in answering this question is in their unique political systems and structures, complex (and often painful) histories and legacies, and differing geopolitical realities. America’s constitutional system (that was not designed for two parties), the UK’s first-past-the-post parliamentary elections, and France’s imperial presidency (about which more, below) all shape how each country responds to this key question. An equivalent, biting look at “Fixing America” or “Fixing the United Kingdom” would almost certainly find similar shortcomings and systemic failings to those Ramdani finds in France.
Ramdani is certainly well placed to ask this question and offer an incisive response. As a French-Algerian reporter, and a woman, she has first-hand experience with many of the issues about which she writes. This brings a particular poignancy to her analysis. Whether witnessing the effects of government neglect in minority-dominant communities, the inability to integrate migrant communities, or extend the rights and privileges to its multi-ethnic citizens, casual systemic bias or overt racism of the far-right, or the ossified education system, Ramdani writes with a careful analytical eye informed by her own lived experiences.
In elucidating the shortcomings of the Fifth Republic, Ramdani offers a rather clear-eyed and cogent exploration of how the French political and economic system works in practice as well as how it is supposed to work in theory. It is both a critique and a guide for modern France.
For Ramdani, France is falling desperately short of those Enlightenment ideals and aspirations and, as a result, is failing to meet the needs of all its citizens. In her telling, the problems begin at the top with the imperial presidency at the head of the Fifth Republic. Meant as an expedient solution to the Algiers Crisis of 1958 (a political crisis during the Algerian Civil War that brought down the Fourth Republic), it has lasted until today. The crisis brought back Charles de Gaulle, who centralized power within the presidency, reducing the power of parliament. While perhaps appropriate to the crisis of 1958, Ramdani believes it has outlived its utility, catering not to the needs of all French society, but a narrower definition of the French citizen.
A key fear throughout Ramdani’s book is the risk that the office holder of the Fifth Republic’s imperial presidency subscribes to far-right beliefs, such as those held by Marine le Pen and her Rassemblement National party. This is not an idle fear as le Pen has steadily improved her party’s performance in France’s elections and has sought to soften the far right’s often outright racist messaging in favor of more populist narratives. This is a central challenge of strong executives—it is a welcome situation so long as the occupant is moderate or in line with one’s ideology, far less so when the opposition holds the office.
The troubles she finds are fruits from the poisoned tree of the imperial presidency. With few checks on the president’s powers, there is little incentive to accommodate different views or culture multi-partisanship. President Emanuel Macron’s pushing through of pension reform via executive fiat is perhaps most emblematic of this power. Yet, Ramdani finds that power in everything, from the militarization of France’s police and law enforcement to its unequal treatment of protests—the gilets jaunes or “yellow vest” movement was treated markedly less forcefully than protests in response to police brutality.
Ramdani sees an undercurrent of both overt and tacit racism in France toward not just immigrant populations, but also French citizens who are not seen as traditionally French e.g., Muslims. For her, France pursues not true multiculturalism, but the fig leaf of the concept of the citizen—everyone is a citizen and equal. While welcome philosophically, in practice it leads to systemic tensions about issues of race and religion, such as the ban on headscarves.
Her criticisms about French society, culture, education, and politics are certainly her strongest and most poignant. Those about France’s economy and foreign policy are, by comparison, less so. She rightly points out that successive occupants of the office of the president have been found guilty of corruption, certainly fueled by the imperial presidency. Yet, France’s economic performance—while uneven, (not unique among late-stage capitalist countries)—has outperformed those of its European neighbors. Internationally France is struggling to find its place, with reactionary movements in Africa leading to coups and anti-French sentiment, and Macron seeking a more vocal and activist role on the European continent and the Indo-Pacific. This, again, is not wholly unique to France as America and Great Britain too are struggling to find their role at a time when the center of geopolitical gravity is moving aggressively toward the Indo-Pacific and China.
At its heart, the core recommendation and inescapable conclusion of “Fixing France” is that nothing short of the jettisoning of the Fifth Republic and the creation of a Sixth Republic will address the panoply of problems Ramdani outlines. It is certainly a bold note on which to end. She believes that more, not less, democracy is needed, and that change can only come about through the jettisoning of the imperial presidency. She does offer a few, select more tangible recommendations, but further exploration of these ideas would certainly be welcomed. It is unlikely that Macron or his successor in 2027 will acquiesce to the total overhaul of the republic, but more discrete actions are, perhaps, more realistic.
A reinvigoration of the country is not without precedent. “Reimagining the ideas and institutions that underpin France is all part of the republican tradition,” Ramdani writes. Macron himself argued as much, which she quotes at length:
“The art of being French is both deeply rooted and universal, to be attached to our history and our roots but able to embrace the future. It’s an ability to argue about everything endlessly and it is, very profoundly, an ability to refuse to adapt to a world which escapes us, to refuse to yield to the law of the survival of the strangest and to pursue a policy of resistance and ambition, for today and tomorrow.”
Truly appreciating a place requires acknowledging its flaws and faults, and believing that it can improve, becoming a better version of itself. For many, France exists only in ideals and abstractions. Embodied best, and perhaps only, by Paris, it is a country of exquisite food, fine art, and a lifestyle to which we all should aspire. That is an incomplete image. France is very much those things, for some. France is also a country in turmoil that, like many modern states in the West, is struggling to come to grips with its past and define a future in a rapidly changing and chaotic world. “The country is unable to reconcile competing forces such as rampant popular nationalism and increasing globalization,” writes Ramdani.
Not all will agree with Ramdani’s characterization of France or its issues, but that is okay, and in fact welcome. The value in her book is that it will challenge readers to consider uncomfortable and alternative truths and ask difficult questions. Only through such introspection can the right questions be asked and, more importantly, the right answers be found.
