France — a paradoxical country

The citizens of France have a notoriously conflicted relationship with the state. Their suspicion, if not resentfulness, of state power has played out in myriad revolts over the centuries and continues with repeated protests and riots to this day. It shapes the country's political and social fabric … from the set-up of their local sports clubs to their global foreign politics ambitions. The picture that emerges is one of a nation struggling to reconcile its core political values with the realities of a diverse society. Presented at FASStival , the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Festival Speaker Emile Chabal Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Edinburgh, Author of France