France

John Girling provides an informative and stimulating overview of French life in a climate of globalization and European integration. He critically examines the residual values of grandeur and elitism in the administrative, political and economic leadership of contemporary France and evaluates their changing profiles in education, and domestic and foreign policy. Moreover, he analyzes the current political practice in the absence of major ideologies. In the face of a rapidly changing world, Girling addresses the question of French cultural identity with both optimism and pessimism.