The French State in Question
Published on 17. December 1992
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-521-43149-1 (ISBN)
Description
The French State in Question places the idea of the state back at the heart of our understanding of modern French history and political culture, and challenges the accepted view of the Third Republic as a 'weak' state. At its core is an examination of a central problem in French politics of the belle epoque: should the employees of the state have the right to join trade unions and to strike? The book examines this as a problem of intellectual history: it seeks to explain why this was such an intractable question, and does so by demonstrating the importance of legal theory and the idea of the state in French political culture. In this important and innovative essay in the history of ideas, Stuart Jones shows how during the Third Republic French legal thinkers engaged in a vigorous rethinking of the idea of the state, and assesses their significance for the development of French political discourse.
Reviews / Votes
"Richly documented, with an extensive, select bibliography and excellent index, this is a highly readable study of the social perspectives that made the conflicy between the right to associate and the rights of the state so central to the definition of French political realities and so difficult to resolve." Tobin H. Jones, French Review "...this is a very useful addition to the Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics series....Its intended readers will find it a difficult, challenging, but ultimately extre,ely rewarding experience." Francis Cornish, LinguisticsMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
546 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-43149-1 (9780521431491)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Stuart Jones is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Manchester. He has written widely on British and French intellectual history and political thought, chiefly of the nineteenth century. His books include The French State in Question (Cambridge University Press, 1993), Victorian Political Thought (2000), and Intellect and Character in Victorian England: Mark Pattison and the Invention of the Don (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He also edited Comte: Early Political Writings for the Cambridge Texts in Political Thought series (Cambridge University Press, 1998). He is currently Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford (2008-9).
Content
Introduction; 1. Political culture and the problem of the state; 2. Law and the state tradition; 3. Administrative syndicalism and the organization of the state; 4. Public power to public service; 5. Civil rights and the republican state; 6. From Contract to Status: Durkheim, Duguit and the state; 7. Maurice Hauriou and the theory of the institution; Conclusion.