TIME EUROPE
June 12, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 23
French Connected
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One reason for that is the discredit that has fallen over the country's political and business élites as a result of a decade of financial scandals. Since the early 1990s, in a French version of Italy's "Clean Hands" crackdown, at least 30 former ministers, party officials and company heads have been put under investigation for offenses ranging from influence peddling and embezzlement to illegal party funding and bribery. The judicial independence that has permitted this sweeping cleanup is one of the most striking aspects of the new France — such affairs would have been quashed from on high under the old system — and it has led to a broad questioning of the honesty and competence of the whole French ruling class. "The judges have played a strong role in discrediting the élites," says Olivier Nora, head of the Grasset publishing house. "Now France is trapped by its own affairs, there is a rise in the sense of ethics and a general impression of corruption."
Another reason for the powerlessness of the politicians is their apparent inability to recognize the profound changes that are taking place in France and the need to develop new models to accommodate them. Bernard Cathelat is a sociologist who studies public opinion for the Havas advertising and media group. Based on his detailed polling, he observes "a real rebound, a renewal of energy and passion, a desire to do something. For the first time in 30 years, the French are ready to change their way of life. What makes me pessimistic is that there are no leaders for this movement. Our political leadership is not credible."
This disconnect between government and the myriad forces pushing for change is one of the biggest problems facing France today. "France is a new country, rapidly changing, imaginative, but led by a bunch of old-fashioned people who constantly refer to the past, to tradition," says Touraine. "The problem cannot be solved without a way of redefining a mix of new economic realities and new social policies. That supposes ideas and debates, but there is very little of that. We have a void between practices and government policies."
While politicians expend their energies on the musical-chair jostling of Paris mayoral candidates (the contest is still 10 months off) and party strategies for the 2002 legislative and presidential elections, major evolutions are taking place almost under their noses. Most significant, perhaps, is the morphing of the old Jacobin, Paris-centered nation into a more complex, decentralized model in which other cities and their surrounding regions are emerging as poles of economic development and cultural expression.
To be sure, government did play a role in launching the process with the administrative decentralization enacted under Socialist President François Mitterrand in 1982. It created 22 elected regional governments with authority over public works, infrastructure and local economic initiatives, but left the country's 96 administrative départements in the hands of government-appointed prefects, while municipal affairs in France's 36,000 communes remained the responsability of their mayors. The result was a mishmash of overlapping jurisdictions and a surge of corruption as financial responsibility devolved to local officials — and money often disappeared into their pockets.
"The 1982 decentralization established no hierarchy between the various entities," says Marc Cabane, who heads a government task force on decentralization and reform. "They were expected to work together but there was no clear-cut leadership." With nearly everyone agreed on the need to return to the drawing board, Jospin has appointed former Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy to propose a new reform, which is expected to reduce the number of regions and streamline the administrative machinery.
Meanwhile, regional development has proceeded at a rapid rate for reasons that have little to do with government-decreed administrative reforms. One keen observer of this process is U.S. Ambassador Felix Rohatyn, who has set up American diplomatic posts in various provincial cities in response to it. "I saw that the combination of the euro and the single market and the elimination of frontiers was inevitably going to lead to a decentralization and increase the importance of regional centers and cities as they created their own alliances," says Rohatyn. "More and more businesses are migrating out of Paris, and this decentralization will only accelerate with the development of the Internet."
According to the 1999 census, Paris is losing population while up-and-coming provincial cities like Toulouse, Lyons and Lille are gaining. The southwest is currently France's fastest-growing region. Analysts attribute the shift to quality-of-life issues, a discovery of the cultural richness of the French provinces and a resurgence of regional identity — all aided by technological advances that offer workers and companies an unprecedented degree of mobility. "If you are a successful start-up in Bordeaux or Toulouse in the technology field," says economist and author Alain Minc, "the question for the boss is whether to stay in Toulouse or move to London — not Paris. Formerly they had to go to Paris to be close to the banks and have a decent work force. That's not the case today." Paris continues to tower over its provincial rivals as an international city, the country's political nexus, an architecturally dazzling showplace and the world's No. 1 tourist destination. But it does not embody or define France as it once did. "France no longer passes through Paris, but through Alsace, Provence, Brittany," says journalist Yannick Le Bourdonnec, author of Le Printemps des Régions. "It is no longer Paris that imposes itself on the image of France."
The old Jacobin republic is also fracturing along ethnic and communitarian lines. Since the French Revolution, the country has espoused the ideology of the unitary republic, in which all citizens are equal and indistinguishable in their relationship to the state. Successive waves of immigrants have been expected to leave their languages and cultures at the border and become uniformly "French" through the process of integration. The system worked fairly well in absorbing Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Polish workers earlier in this century. But it has broken down as the postwar influx of Arabs and Africans from the former French colonies clogged the French melting pot with a non-European, largely Islamic population.
The result is that France, in stark contrast to the official theory, is becoming a multicultural society. Some analysts feel that the old model of republican integration will ultimately absorb the newer immigrant groups. But most observers see the spread of multiculturalism as a fundamental challenge to the traditional French nation. "The French don't accept the idea," says political commentator Alain Duhamel, "but the reality is the existence of communities and the formation of specialized ethnic neighborhoods. France is becoming a country of exclusions, with more ghettoization than Germany, Britain or Holland. This will be a big political battle in the future."
A more positive aspect of the French renaissance is the rapid development of the new economy. France was slower off the mark than the U.S. and some of its European neighbors, but has been steadily closing the gap in the past couple of years. The number of Internet connections has increased fivefold since 1997, while the financing of high-tech start-ups has tripled in the past year.
"The new economy is very promising," says Jacques Attali, a former economic adviser to President Mitterrand. "We are experiencing strong growth and developing new technologies. We are good in everything that is the future: aerospace, transportation, entertainment, tourism, genetics, agrobusiness, telecoms. Today anyone who wants to create a company can find the money. Two years ago, there was less than $100 million available for start-ups. Now it's nearly $2 billion." Two French psychological impediments to embracing the new economy — an innate suspicion of wealth and a fear of risk — are fast breaking down as a younger generation taps into the Internet revolution. "Ten years ago," says Minc, "only one out of 200 graduates of France's élite universities said he wanted to be an entrepreneur. Today, it's more than half. That's a major generational shift." Indeed, the rise of the young, well-educated, global-minded generation is one of the most important forces driving the French renaissance in almost every domain.
All these changes are forcing the political establishment to face up to the needs and realities of the new France of the future. But two major obstacles remain. One is the size and conservatism of the bloated public sector work force, which sees any change as a threat to its status and privileges. The other, related problem is the near-impossibility of reforming state institutions. Recent attempts to rejigger the antiquated tax-collection and school systems were blocked by striking civil servants and their powerful unions, costing two ministers their jobs and probably ending all serious reform attempts until the 2002 presidential election, in which Jospin is expected to square off against Chirac. But reform is urgent: unless the public sector is trimmed and the national pension system modified, the country will face an untenable financial crunch in coming decades.
There are optimists and pessimists on the question of reform. Socialists like Weber point to the reforms that the Jospin government has already carried out — including a law recognizing unmarried couples and a requirement that parties field equal numbers of male and female political candidates — to argue that progressive change is possible. Skeptics say that Jospin has merely done the easy stuff, while shunning the fundamental state reforms. And in the back of every mind is the French revolutionary tradition which has proved time and again that leaders who try to ride roughshod over an angry populace do so at their peril.
To former Finance Minister Strauss-Kahn, though, France's history of sudden, paradigm-shattering upheavals is the best proof that change is possible. "We are a country of revolution, not reform," he says. "Things don't change for 20 or 30 years, then suddenly they change. In two centuries things have changed abruptly. That can happen also in the reform of the state. Things may seem blocked, but ideas are gaining force and one fine day, the move occurs."
In at least one area, reform of the state seems imminent: reduction of the presidential term from seven to five years. The idea has been gestating for decades, but France's three recent experiences with "cohabitation" — the awkward sharing of power between a President of one party and a Prime Minister of another — have convinced Jospin and Chirac to push for a revision of the Fifth Republic's constitution. The proposed reform, which could be approved by referendum later this year, would make the presidential term coincide with that of the Parliament, thus reducing the chances of cohabitation. But it could also transform the monarchical-style presidency envisioned by De Gaulle into a chief executive more like a U.S. President. Thus politically, as well as socially and economically, France seems to be moving in a more American direction — without ever admitting it.
Even as the country grapples with these profound internal transformations, its changing international role also reflects a growing awareness that the new France must be very different from the proud and glorious world power of old. If a sense of universal mission continues to stir the hearts of French politicians and diplomats, only a handful of die-hard nationalists now doubt that France's international aims and aspirations can only be achieved through Europe. Hence the leading role that the country has taken in promoting European military cooperation and in the aggressive defense of European economic interests. The French strategy of using Europe to enhance its own clout — and counterbalance America's overwhelming power — is proof of both the resilience of the new France and a tenacious belief in its own special destiny. Plus ça change, in other words, plus c'est la même chose.
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June 12, 2000
SPECIAL REPORT
French Connected
Despite a legacy of state control, and an archaic political leadership, France is thriving — and modernizing — in the face of global competition
Venture Playground
A new spirit of entrepreneurship has created a thriving culture for Internet start-ups and fueled the country's robust growth. How the new economy is changing the way the French do business — and reshaping the nation itself
French Exodus
Driven out by excessive taxes and red tape, and also by a spirit of adventure, more and more French men and women are taking their talents abroad
Mixing Bowl
The French don't like to admit it, but decades of immigration have produced a multicultural society that is reinvigorating the nation
Vive Les Regions
Key provincial cities are emerging as the new vectors of economic development and cultural expression
From Decline to Renewal
Stanley Hoffman on France's success as a modern, middle-size power
EUROPE
The Victory Lap?
Europe toasts Clinton one more time, but the Atlantic relationship is showing strain
Soft Power Politics
Europe and the U.S. must seek a world beyond winners and losers
Battle of the Basques
Political inertia combines with disunity and distrust among Spain's national and regional security forces to play into the hands of the terrorist group ETA
Expensive Exposure
Hanover hopes Expo 2000 will put it on the map. It surely will, but the price of publicity will be high
Lights, Camera, Shoot!
Police disguised as a TV crew trick a man to free children and teachers held hostage in Luxembourg
AFRICA
Reliving Apartheid Horrors
The trial of a South African cardiologist accused of murder reopens old wounds
BUSINESS
Ad Land Goes Cyber
Virtual agencies are using the Web to create campaigns in record time, and without the bureaucracy
The Game of the Name
The struggle for Web dominance shows that brands matter just as much in the new economy as in the old
The Wide Blue Yonder
Giant airships could become commercially viable again six decades after the Hindenburg disaster
Battle Below the Belt
Designer Calvin Klein goes to court claiming a business partner is destroying his brand's image
SOCIETY
Tangled Webs for Sale
Planning a tryst or a day at the races away from the boss? A Scottish firm can cover your tracks — for a fee
THE ARTS
Recreating a Jewel
Egypt has built an updated version of the fabled Bibliotheca Alexandrina, but its commitment to intellectual freedom remains an open question
Thandie Makes It Possible
Her mission: to help make M:I-2 the hottest movie of the season. But first she tells you about Hollywood stupidity (and Tom's unusual sense of humor)
The Daily Courage
Journalist Benjamin Pogrund let the facts speak for themselves, no easy task in apartheid South Africa
DEPARTMENTS
Essay
To Our Readers
World Watch
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