Abstract
France has a long tradition of state supremacy because it was centralised much earlier than other European states. This centralising policy took its roots in the effort by kings to fight against the diversities of their kingdom, which were also obstacles to the exercise of their strength. France is a multicultural country, which may be seen as a paradox given its typical image as a centralised and homogeneous country. France was made of many provinces with their own customs and their own rules. The French Revolution, the First and Second Empires, and the Third Republic went on reinforcing a unified state and republican ideology tried to impose the political myth of the citizen, defined by his/her political contract with the nation state, free and equal with regard to their rights, independent of any other sense of belonging.
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© 2007 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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de Wenden, C.W. (2007). Debating Cultural Difference in France. In: Raymond, G.G., Modood, T. (eds) The Construction of Minority Identities in France and Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230590960_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230590960_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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