Introduction

Abstract

The contributors to this book have been guided by two main concerns. The first was to offer students, as well as general readers with an interest in politics, a rigorous analysis of a number of aspects of French and European political life. The following chapters are required reading for students taking the international program on political and social sciences at Science Po’s Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF), which has been running since 1998. In making our selection of themes, we have inevitably failed to include analyses of every aspect of political life. Given the current state of research findings, it is questionable whether such an exhaustive study would even be feasible. In any event, we consider, rightly or wrongly, that the topics selected have allowed us to go to the heart of the current crisis of political representation, to the extent that they all either contribute to the crisis or are symptomatic of it.