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French Republic and Immigration: Toward ‘a New Republic’?

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2009, (21), pp.151~172
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

박단 1

1한성대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

France has been a immigrant country since the end of XIXe century. Muslim immigrants substituted by the European immigrants after the Second World War raised a question of the identity of French Republic. It seems to me that the Constitution of France shows the Republic’s identity with clarity. The Article 1 of the Preamble of the 1958 Constitution clearly stipulates: “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.” “Secular” goes with “indivisible”, and freedom of religion should not lead to any division. Most French has been ardent defenders of theses principles of Republic, but some people including Nicolas Sarkozy suggest ‘new’ immigration policy related to the multi-culturalism, which is supposed to break Republic’s principles. Recently, there are some measures which indicate this direction: affirmative action in the designation of the governor of province Jura, creation of ZEP(Zones d’Education Prioritaires) and quota system of a new students in Sciences Po; organization of the committee for the population statistics based on religion and race. The recent immigration policy has engendered a lot of controversy about the identity of French Republic. Then, does this new policy imply the nation is turning toward ‘a New Republic’? Or, is this new policy compatible with the traditional Republic’s principles? Therefore, I suggest that we should examine the French Republic’s principles and its ideological concept more in depth.

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