The New France

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At the moment, their aplomb seems to be deserting them. Judging by opinion surveys and diagnoses in the press, a country that long prided itself on being the lumiere du monde is awash in dark soul searching. The French are said to be fed up with politics and politicians. There is the hangover from the gulf war, an episode that deflated the vaunted image of French power and influence. Paris waffled about what to do almost to the last minute and ended up sheltering behind U.S. policy. In the harsh judgment of Jacques Julliard, a columnist for the progovernment weekly Le Nouvel Observateur, "The gulf crisis revealed the weak influence of our diplomacy, the modest competitiveness of our industrialists and above all the archaic state of our military equipment."

And there is a nagging anxiety over the nation's soul. French culture, so some worry, is in danger of turning into pasteurized processed cheese: wholesome, possibly edible, but lacking distinctive tang and texture. What the country managed to preserve despite humiliations over the centuries -- pride in a singular civilization -- it now risks losing under the impact of American pop culture and in the homogenizing vat of that mysterious entity called Europe. Chauvinists like the immigrant baiter Jean-Marie Le Pen say the greater threat comes from African Arabs and blacks who have had the inestimable privilege of settling in France but refuse to accept its folkways. Meanwhile, with Marx in the dustbin of history, leftists have no prophet, right-wingers no archfoe.

The French, in short, seem to be losing their bearings, their ideals and dreams. It is a bitter vintage, all the more so considering how high expectations were running. Just last year France looked well placed to become more than the center of gravity of a newly ascendant Europe. By some lights, it was emerging as the best of all possible worlds. Three centuries after the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and nearly two after Napoleon bestrode the Continent, Paris was confidently pulling the strings of Europe, positioning itself to be the capital of a new political-economic imperium.

It may be yet, for France still enjoys copious advantages. Its standard of living is among the best in the world, and the quality of life, as many a visitor will attest, remains as invigorating as it is gracious. Modern arts and sciences flourish in a landscape adorned with Gothic cathedrals, tree- lined avenues and grand siecle chateaus. Philosophy is still as much in fashion as fashion is the ultimate philosophy. Together with modern farms, a medieval patchwork of agriculture still yields its plenty to cordon bleu tables in a country better prepared for the 21st century than most -- a land crisscrossed by bullet trains, a nuclear-electric power grid, Airbus jetliners and satellites borne aloft in Ariane rockets.

The jewel of French assets in recent years has been stability: a sureness about the nation's place and purpose in the world as well as its material prospects. Inflation was reined in, exports rose comfortably, and a Socialist President managed to guide France's fortunes, at home and abroad, with the confident generalship of a De Gaulle. A people famous for crossing swords over the slightest trespass or ideological difference settled into a harmonious political dispensation.