From Islam en France to Islam de France: contradictions of the French left's responses to Islam

ABSTRACT

The political class in France, especially the left, has been profoundly shaped by the revolutionary heritage of 1789. Determined to combat the determinisms that fractured French society under the ancien régime, such as religion, the individual was reconfigured, first as a citizen and then, by the left, as indistinguishable from a class, the proletariat. While in both cases the conceptualization of the individual had the benefit of unity and clarity, the abstract nature of these notions too often left out those very factors that are most significant to those individuals themselves for their self-definition. Moreover, the social transformation of France since the 1960s has exposed the culture-specific conditioning that underlay the apparent neutrality of the conceptualization of the individual bequeathed by 1789. Raymond explores how the left has struggled with its intellectual heritage in its relationship with minorities, especially Muslims, from the xenophobic populism of the Communists in the early 1980s to the recognition proposed by some Socialists during their last period in government. Paradoxically, the institutional accommodation reached with the Islamic community by the centre-right governments of the past decade, notably the creation of the Conseil Français du Culte Musulman (French Council of the Muslim Faith) in 2002, built on the initiatives of previous Socialist administrations. They set the course for a better integration of the Muslim community by transforming Islam en France (Islam in France) into an Islam de France (French Islam). But in spite of the initial impetus given by the Socialists to the institutional assimilation of Islam, their reactions to the emergence of a French Islamic identity remain contradictory. The question therefore persists as to whether the left in France, impregnated by a historically conditioned secularism, can be reconciled with a community defined by its faith through the emergence of a ‘Gallican’ Islam, or whether the time has come for a fundamental reappraisal of the ideology of the French left, and even the Republic itself.     

从共和、自由、法治看西方宪政的理论基石

西方宪政是一个限制政府权力的政治制度.它建立于共和主义、自由主义、法治主义等理论基础之上.共和主义强调天下为公、谋求共同福祉;自由主义主张自由与权利以及对少数人的尊重;法治主义要求政府守法和违宪审查.三者共同支撑起西方宪政大厦.     

Republican liberty and border controls

This article examines the normative status of border controls from a neo-republican perspective, grounded in the value of freedom as non-domination. It makes use of Philip Pettit’s account of this kind of freedom and discusses Pettit’s own remarks on the status of border controls. Against Pettit, it argues that the domination generated by border controls is ineliminable given existing political institutions, because such controls cannot avoid subjecting non-citizens to coercion in ways that are not forced to track their interests. The article also argues for an alternative neo-republican account of border controls that does not deny their coerciveness but allows for certain border control policies in non-ideal circumstances.     

Control,consent and political legitimacy

In this essay, I evaluate Philip Pettit’s theory of republican political legitimacy and maintain that it fails to provide a more satisfactory account of legitimacy than consent-based theories. I advance two interrelated theses. First, I argue that in so far as Pettit successfully narrows the scope that his theory of political legitimacy has to address, his arguments could be adapted to support consent-based theories. Second, I argue that Pettit’s theory fails to satisfy the high standards it sets for itself and is thus unsuccessful. My critique focuses on Pettit’s notions of historical, political and normative necessity, before evaluating whether his requirement of equally individualised popular control of government should be endorsed.     

THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THE SHAPING OF IDENTITY IN LOYALIST ULSTER

This article discusses Loyalist identity formation in Ulster, as Unionists and Loyalists strive to reconcile with or, conversely, distance themselves from the fundamental political changes that have followed in the wake of the paramilitary ceasefires of the mid-1990s and the 1998 Good Friday Belfast Peace Agreement. It is argued that in the unresolved questions surrounding identity and allegiance lie the keys to conflict and its resolution in Northern Ireland. The article has four specific objectives. First, these revisionist identity authorings are set within a conceptual context that links three closely related ideas that are crucial to the emerging identities of post-1994 Loyalist Ulster: resistance; subalternity; and Thirdspace. Secondly, the implications of these ideas for the renegotiation of Loyalist identities are explored, before, thirdly, a brief examination of the subject matter, content and resources—the heritage—for those identities. Finally, the article isolates some of the major themes of these identities in order to elicit the repercussions of Loyalist self-imaging. Particular emphasis is given to the Somme mythology and the Ulster-Scots movement.     

Islamic Identity,Nationality and Republicanism in the Process of Islamic Awakening

This paper is going to identify and discuss necessary theoretical principles for reasoning current and future situation of subjects related to Arabic Islamic thoughts. This paper tries to consider typology of vocal groups at Islamic movements involved in the process of Islamic awakening. In this direction, firstly different research approaches will be considered and the main purpose is that how these researches observe the origin of formation of these groups and what is their emphasis in this regard. The key points of their reasoning will be explained and then the explanation, representation and re-definition of these groups are paid attention to. The main idea is that among all analyses and reasoning and view points, the key point is the importance of viewpoint of Islamism in these movements and any analysis will be unreliable reading without reading to this variable,     

Repraesentatio identitatis : l’idée de représentation politique en débat dans la République de Genève lors de la crise de 1707

In the Republic of Geneva, the Small Council and the Great Council considered themselves to be representative of the people, although they were not elected by citizens, but were mutually co-opted instead. There were still elections by the General Council, the assembly of all burgesses and citizens, but they were only meant to promote the members of these co-opted councils to particular magistracies. During the political crisis of 1707, government thinkers tried to justify in theory this conception of representation, which is similar to what the German legal philosopher Hasso Hofmann called repraesentatio identitatis. For them, the Small and the Great Councils were inherently representative of the people owing to their large numbers and their concern for the public interest. The main thinkers of the ‘popular party' not only rejected this argument, but also advocated an alternative political model, with a redistribution of powers between the Councils and the restoration in practice of the sovereignty of the General Council, which it should directly exert. On either side, no project of representative government – in the sense that the Small and the Great Councils would be elected by the people – was ever put forward in these debates.     

Solidarity,equality, and freedom in Pettit’s republicanism

This article discusses Pettit’s views of social justice and political legitimacy in On the People’s Terms. Although Pettit’s book presents a powerful account of the ideal of nondomination, this article probes some deficiencies regarding important questions about solidarity, equality, and feasibility.     

从公共行政的视角看共和主义

本文探讨了在公共行政领域，公共性生成过程中共和主义思想占据何位置，并且是如何提供了资源供给。     

欧盟宪法发展进程中的双重变奏——共和主义与自由主义的视角

欧盟宪法较之于民族国家的宪法的一个突出特征在于，欧盟宪法不是来自于一次政治决断，而是由多个连续性的决断构成，这就表现为欧盟宪法的发展或欧盟统合秩序的形成是一个由多种力量或因素参与其间的法律与政治进程，其中，共和主义与自由主义最为重要，从而欧盟宪法的发展进程也就体现为共和主义与自由主义的双重变奏。共和主义是欧盟宪法的灵魂与骨架，而自由主义在欧盟宪法发展之初是作为一种积极的力量而存在的。随着欧盟宪法的发展，因触及了各个民族国家的政治、社会发展模式及成员国人民的福利，自由主义则成为欧盟宪法发展中重要反对性力量所借助的思想资源，但是，源于“欧洲梦”的追求，共和主义较之于自由主义始终具有正当性与统摄性。欧盟宪法未来的发展，在一定意义上就取决于共和主义与自由主义之间的平衡。