French Rigidity the Term \'French

French Rigidity

The term 'French rigidity' could be a misnomer. Being aware of a problem and taking steps that could be viewed as harsh is not 'rigidity'. However while the rest of Europe has resigned itself to the problem of the influx of aliens and the associated problems, and are reeling under the additional economic pressure, France seems to be at an unenviable place. The question then is where the flow of economic, social and the cultural flow of France lie in future? But the problem is not of France alone.

All European states that had colonies have had to accommodate large number of immigrants, and have had to continue doing that for the colonies. (Jere-Malanda, 2004) This problem is faced by Britain, Germany and other European nations that have to put up with immigration not only from colonies, but from countries that have broken up from the former Soviet Union. The problem is not just that the government of France is rigid or the people are rigid and do not accommodate the aliens. It is to the credit of France that Frenchmen have not unlike the other peoples created anti-alien outfits and created violence. In UK there are the Skinheads and Germany of course has a terrible history in this regard. France as a nation is comparatively less discriminatory. Why call the policies of the French rigid? The correct view is that it is the aliens who enter France who insulate themselves from the French society which they find unacceptable on grounds of their religion and alien culture. The question is not if French rigidity has brought about the problem but how the problem of integrating immigrants with rigid attitudes and culture into the mainstream. (Favell, 2001)

What policy changes ought to be made and how must the government and population take steps? The France appears to be rigid in this issue because its government has not taken any visible step to solving the Parisian knot. There are issues that pertain to the immigrants that are delicate and needs to be addressed. For example there ought to be a through study on why the integration of immigrants into France failed. It is not only because of the 'rigidity'. There are many undercurrents that have not yet even been looked into.

1. What do you believe is the source of French rigidity, whether in response to challenges from the global economy or the need to incorporate new groups of citizens into French society?

The question about French rigidity ought to be looked into in the context of the nation being flooded by immigrants from all over the globe. Historically France did not favor immigration unlike Britain which promoted immigration from the colonies in the colonial days. The French did not anticipate that one day they would have to face the problem of their dependencies creating an influx into the country. The immigrant is a stranger, at least for a generation. Normally the second and third generations orient themselves to the adapted state. This we see has happened in the U.S., UK and some other countries. It did not however happen so in France. (Favell, 2001)

Frenchmen and the immigrants have not been able to find common ground. Or is that view correct? There has been xenophobia exhibited in other countries too. In France the falling employment levels and ostracizing of the immigrant population who are left to fend for themselves seems to be the problem. It can be said to be apathy to their plight rater than rigidity. The problem thus can be analyzed using the political, social, and immigrant status in France.

Political and Economic Models:

The political history of France shows that there was a peculiar model of the state for France. There is social autonomy that is created by three different aspects that ensure uninterrupted functioning. There is the legal autonomy that creates and enforces many unique rules and the common law: the physical or executive autonomy that is shown in the polity. There also exists a symbolic autonomy that concerns itself with civic questions that particular interests of the private sphere will not address. France's deeply rooted tradition of interventionism makes it look rigid and different from the other states. (Chevallier, 1996)

"Already under the absolutist regime, the state had broad and diversified functions, not only those associated with the monarchy but also social, cultural, and economic functions. This interventionism did not weaken at any time during the 19th century. This notion of the state was obviously propitious for the development of an administrative science. On the one hand, the sharp differentiation between the state and society implied the need to create a specific body of knowledge concerning public administration, with no question of diluting it in a more general science of organization." (Chevallier, 1996) Unfortunately the administrative machinery has tended to be highly rigid on this account and poses some of the problems that France is facing.

In comparing the political model of France with Italy, Boltho (2001) shows that about fifty years ago France and Italy were opposite poles so far as their economies were concerned. At that time Italy had more unemployment, while France had full employment situation with the industry had greater productivity than Italy. Then during the beginning of nineteen sixty, France changed the economic policy to that of interventionism. While Italy was also having smaller intervention by the state, its economy was governed by the market forces. France had the economy controlled by the state with the nationalizations and national plan. (Boltho, 2001) the economic policies of the state which the politicians become actively involved are aware that tax policies and state enterprises have election values. From the 1980s however there has been a change with France giving a free market policy with minimal intervention and seems to have come into the mainstream capitalism. (Boltho, 2001)

Though the French economy was stable and consequently provided more opportunities for immigrants, in the beginning of the millennium there was the signs of economic decline in the air. In the book 'La France qui tombe (France Is Falling Over)' Nicolas Baverez the French historian and economist has pointed out at the economic and political decline of France. This book thus was the subject of much debate and Boucher (2004) concurs that there was no doubt that politically and economically the country was in the decline. Politicians blamed it on the wrong social innovations like the 35-hour work week, especially the leftists who themselves were in power from 1997 to 2002. The government that is in power is always paralyzed by fear of public wrath and losing face with the voters. The truth as is argued by Boucher is thus somewhere in between. (Boucher, 2004)

Taking up the arguments that France is slow in adapting to new realities, like the unification of Germany, technology revolution and globalization. This feeling probably made the people vote for French President Jacques Chirac in 2002. The electorate however is not happy over the domestic policy that has taken the back seat while the government pursued foreign policy and neglected state reforms. There is also the contention that France remains frozen in a Cold War mindset. Added to that we have the French leaders who decry the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the activities of the Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden as the next threat t be projected in the vacuum created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (Boucher, 2004)

On the other hand Britain has more clout in the world arena and more in the Central and Eastern Europe. Thus the capital city of France is today in shambles. (Martel, 2001) There have been numerous political and social scandals. Other than these, the right management of the city has also been sharply criticized. Today Paris is likely to become a ghost tow on account of the high rent and the absence of funding for housing for low- and middle-income families. They have thus been made to move suburban developments and this creates commuting problems to work. (Martel, 2001) There are campaigns to make France "a model of democracy" and give Paris back its former demographic mixture. How far it works out remains to be seen.

Political problems of France as a democracy seem also to have a larger effect on the current problems. It also shows why it appears rigid from a global view point. An Australian's view back in 1996 by McIntyre (1996) still holds good so far as the position of France in the global context is concerned. Starting with the fact that political extremes are tolerated in France, even if it is threat to the country itself. Thus "Le Pen's National Front Party co-exists with a Stalinist Communist Party that has not, unlike in Australia and the United States, been subjected to witch hunts." (McIntyre, 1996) This liberality could be interpreted as true freedom or just apathy. There appears to be gender bias and bias to colored people. Further Andrew McIntyre comments that the French and Anglo-Saxon countries when contrasted with the feminism issues show that France is still conservative. Quoting Edith Cresson, the first female Prime Minister of France, the difference is that "French men and women liked and needed each other." At least we may be happy that feminism and freedom of women is more in France than at anywhere else because the contrast with Anglo-Saxon attitudes is noteworthy and this shows that the French women do not see themselves as generically the victims of men. (McIntyre, 1996) on the other hand the harassment laws in France are far stricter than other countries. This information is vital for understanding why the problem of a simple thing like a head scarf made mandatory for women creates a furor. Can such a situation be overcome?

2. Is France capable of overcoming this rigidity, or is it doomed to struggle unsuccessfully with these challenges?

There are some answers to this question one of them being the possibility of increasing the employment level by giving greater freedom to investors. The problem does not remain solely with the employment problem although during the Seventies it was seen that immigrants were the cause of unemployment, mere unemployment does not cause the strife we see in France today. In 1974 there was a shift in immigration laws in France due to recession that was caused by the OPEC oil crisis. France had to close its doors to immigration -- through a series of steps which included banning immigration and deporting illegal immigrants and encouraging the legal emigrants to also go home. (Ogden, 1989)

There came policies on second and third generation immigrants and lastly policies to mitigate the flare up between the indigenous labor population and the immigrants over work. The fact that far back France was a great target for the immigrant cannot be overlooked. France was the general target for immigration, there are now a lot of visible differences between and there is a communalist element that has taken strong root. The suburbs of Paris, like Lille, and Lyon have mixed population for all races and places and Islam is a part of this new challenge the Islamic concepts are said to be running contrary to the established conventions of masculinity, feminists, freedom and the way the religion could be adapted to the French culture. (Bowen, 2007) Then the major problem is not employment but the general fear of Islam. The employment problem also stems from the national policy over jobs.

Internal Problem:

The major problem is seen to be the fact that the permanent jobs are retained by senior French citizens and jobs are for life. "In France the life expectancy levels are one of the highest in the world." (Kalyoncu, 2006) There is thus no scope of employing the youth. The youth from the immigrant communities are further discriminated against. There is Human rights report of September 2001 that shows that discrimination is deeply present in the French society. Legally there could be no discrimination because the Constitution of France does not recognize minorities and thus the argument is that "France is a country in which there are no ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities." (Kalyoncu, 2006) the native French citizens blame the immigrants for the poor employment scenario and increasing crime rate. There is the majority of the French public who voice opinions that there must be forcible repatriation of unemployed immigrants. (Kalyoncu, 2006) There seems to be xenophobia against the Muslims more than any other community, probably because of the connection to terrorism and the Al Qaeda. However rigidity of the state to wards the Muslims and the colored population is evident.

Religious Problems:

The religious angle cannot be overlooked. In France Muslims outnumber the Protestants and some of these people have migratory tendencies in the sense that they leave for their place of origin after a time. There are others who are like the South Moluccans have stronger roots. The South Moluccans have terrorized the Dutch with kidnapping and murder for gaining the dream republic in the Spice Islands. Violence against aliens occurs all over Europe especially when the aliens try to integrate with the local community. There were violence against Turks in Germany, Indians in UK and mostly the immigrants are the victims of violence. In democracies the situation presents problems that are not easy to cope up with, especially submerged nationalism that could create separatist rings and bring about urban terror which has caused frustration to all EU governments. (Bell, Horowitz, 1979)

The riots that broke out in Paris and spread about in 2005 in France signals a collapse of the French civic system and brought out the inadequacies in it. By the information available according to Mehmet Kalyoncu, by November 16th 2005, "126 members of the French Police were injured, the total number of cars torched and that of arrests amount respectively 8,973 and 2,888, and the monetary damage is estimated to be over 200 million euros." (Kalyoncu, 2006)

The problem that seems to have begun at the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois spread and totally affected over two hundred communities, most of which were reeling under the worst job market in Europe and the escalating unemployment figures. The unemployment of immigrants was over forty percent and it was this misery that caused the riots which was focused against the government and police. Social and general attitudes of the French show that there have been and perhaps still are racial discrimination and the undercurrent of police brutality towards alien population. The French Police seems to have come down heavily on small crimes with being discriminatory to colored and immigrant French citizens. The problem was escalated with "Sarkozy's 'Zero Tolerance' policing policy that went at tangent to the rising unemployment. There was more to come." (Kalyoncu, 2006)

"The Muslim Question":

The title reeks of the Nazi era, but there appears to be a targeting of the Muslim community just as the Nazis did the Jews. It is not that horrendous but the fear, distrust and hatred seem to have seeped into the society. It is stated that one of the major cause of the riots of 2005 was the discrimination and stigmatization of Islam in France. (Kalyoncu, 2006) an example with a sample immigrant like Djamila, an Algerian-born nurse's aide lives near Paris, hopes that her four sons would find recognition having been born 'French.' Today all her sons are jobless and at 58 Djamila finds that none of them have anything to do because there are absolutely no jobs. Thus Sciolino (2005) shows that France has failed to integrate millions of Arab and African immigrants. It has to be mentioned that most are Muslims. There is a complaint that the police are corrupt, and extort money from neighborhood hoodlums who allow the trade of drugs and the sons of Djamila for example are still not considered French but aliens. (Kalyoncu, 2006)

Today it can be asserted with certainty that 'rigidity' as seen in the French society is only with the colored people and more so with Muslims. Muslims are the focus of discrimination in French society. The French government declines Muslim religious associations from receiving state funding, by resorting to the old rule of 1925 that prohibits state funding of religious institutions that have no cultural ties to the French community. While the state promotes Catholic, Protestant and Jewish schools, there are no Muslim schools. France shows greater discrimination to Muslims in the job market. The riots of 2005 are a result of the discrimination in the French society coupled with unemployment and social isolation of immigrant communities. This led to resulting in riots. (Kalyoncu, 2006)