Against the broad historical background of economic globalisation and dwindling nation-state resources, this book examines the impact of the end of the Cold War and of the geo-political transformation of Europe on a wide range of issues, from changing perceptions of France's future world role to the internal ramifications of a new ideological and strategic environment. Multi disciplinary in focus, it draws on the expertise of historians, political scientists, sociologists and economists working in the field of French studies.

France's response to the rise of European fascism during the 1930s, and subsequently to the Nazi occupation 1940-44, has been a difficult subject for the nation's historians. The consensus amongst leading French authorities on the period has been the claim that France was largely 'immune' to fascism in the 1930s, and that the Vichy regime was an aberration produced by defeat and occupation. Over the last 30 years, this position has gradually been undermined, mainly through the work of foreign scholars, but it nonetheless remains intact. This volume brings together for the first time the leading critics of the standard French interpretation, who have used these essays to refine and update their positions, or to move the debate onto new terrain.

Brian Jenkins is Research Professor in the Department of French at the University of Leeds. His doctoral thesis was on the Paris riots of February 6th 1934, and he has recently returned to the study of the French extreme Right between the world wars. He has also written extensively on French nationalism, and on theories of nationalism, notably as the author of "Nationalism in France: Class and Nation since 1789" (1990) and as co-editor of "Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe" (1996). He is co-editor of the "Journal of Contemporary European Studies."

France and Fascism: February 1934 and the Dynamics of Political Crisis is the first English-language book to examine the most significant political event in interwar France: the Paris riots of February 1934. On 6 February 1934, thousands of fascist rioters almost succeeded in bringing down the French democratic regime. The violence prompted the polarisation of French politics as hundreds of thousands of French citizens joined extreme right-wing paramilitary leagues or the left-wing Popular Front coalition. This 'French civil war', the first shots of which were fired in February 1934, would come to an end only at the Liberation of France ten years later. The book challenges the assumption that the riots did not pose a serious threat to French democracy by providing a more balanced historical contextualisation of the events. Each chapter follows a distinctive analytical framework, incorporating the latest research in the field on French interwar politics as well as important new investigations into political violence and the dynamics of political crisis. With a direct focus on the actual processes of the unfolding political crisis and the dynamics of the riots themselves, France and Fascism offers a comprehensive analysis which will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scholars, in the areas of French history and politics, and fascism and the far right.

France's response to the rise of European fascism during the 1930s, and subsequently to the Nazi occupation 1940-44, has been a difficult subject for the nation's historians. The consensus amongst leading French authorities on the period has been the claim that France was largely 'immune' to fascism in the 1930s, and that the Vichy regime was an aberration produced by defeat and occupation. Over the last 30 years, this position has gradually been undermined, mainly through the work of foreign scholars, but it nonetheless remains intact. This volume brings together for the first time the leading critics of the standard French interpretation, who have used these essays to refine and update their positions, or to move the debate onto new terrain.

Beginning with an analysis of the complex relationship between fascism and the post-war extreme right, the book discusses both contemporary parties and the cultural and intellectual influences of the European New Right as well as patterns of socialization and mobilization. It then analyses the effects of a range of factors on the ideological development of right-wing extremism including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, religious extremism and the approach towards Europe (and the European Union).The final sections investigate a number of activist manifestations of the extreme right from youth participation and the white power music scene to transnational rallies, the Internet and football hooliganism. In the process, the book questions the notion that the contemporary extreme right is either completely novel or fully populist in character. Drawing together a wide range of contributors, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in contemporary extremism and fascism. The book is a companion volume to Mapping the Extreme Right (Routledge, 2012) which has the same editors.

Beginning with an analysis of the complex relationship between fascism and the post-war extreme right, the book discusses both contemporary parties and the cultural and intellectual influences of the European New Right as well as patterns of socialization and mobilization. It then analyses the effects of a range of factors on the ideological development of right-wing extremism including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, religious extremism and the approach towards Europe (and the European Union).The final sections investigate a number of activist manifestations of the extreme right from youth participation and the white power music scene to transnational rallies, the Internet and football hooliganism. In the process, the book questions the notion that the contemporary extreme right is either completely novel or fully populist in character. Drawing together a wide range of contributors, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in contemporary extremism and fascism. The book is a companion volume to Mapping the Extreme Right (Routledge, 2012) which has the same editors.

In recent years the revival of the far right and anti-Semitic, racist and fascist organizations has posed a significant threat throughout Europe. Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe provides a broad geographical overview of the dominant strands within the contemporary radical right in both Western and Eastern Europe. After providing some local and regional perspectives, the book has a series of national case studies of particular countries and regions including: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Scandinavia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. A series of thematic chapters examine transnational phenomena such as the use of the Internet, the racist music scene, cultural transfers and interaction between different groups. Drawing together a wide range of contributors, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in contemporary extremism, fascism and comparative party politics.

In recent years the revival of the far right and anti-Semitic, racist and fascist organizations has posed a significant threat throughout Europe. Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe provides a broad geographical overview of the dominant strands within the contemporary radical right in both Western and Eastern Europe. After providing some local and regional perspectives, the book has a series of national case studies of particular countries and regions including: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Scandinavia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. A series of thematic chapters examine transnational phenomena such as the use of the Internet, the racist music scene, cultural transfers and interaction between different groups. Drawing together a wide range of contributors, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in contemporary extremism, fascism and comparative party politics.

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity.
Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the 'national question'. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavla and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War.
Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that 'nations' are not 'natural' phenomena but 'constructed' forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. Why should so many movements across the continent be seeking to preserve or replicate a mode of political organisation whose efficacy and legitimacy is increasingly open to doubt? Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, less and less are able to 'deliver the goods' in terms of policy or to provide the primary focus for social identity, the nation state faces an uncertain future.
This book examines the many manifestations of this ambivalent process across Europe, focusing both on the specifics of national identity in individual countries and on the external forces that are shaping contemporary perceptions and reactions - economic globalisation and European supranationalism, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Eastern bloc, mass migratory movements and North-South tensions. In this wider context, the resurgence of nationalism appears less like a paradox than like an 'epiphenomenon' of the crisis of nation-state structures, more virulent in the disintegrating state formations of Eastern Europe but equally visible in the introspective national self-doubt afflicting many West European states in the 'new world order'. The quest for identity and meaning in a world dominated by market consumerism and bereft of alternative social models may all too easily find consolation in chauvinsim and ethnic nationalism.
Drawing on this global perspective, Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe offers a rich analysis of the 'national question' in nine major European countries. It reaffirms the point that, like all forms of social identity, 'nation' is an ideological construct and that 'nationalism' is a distinctly political programme. They are not timeless 'natural' phenomena, but they neither are they 'fated' to disappear. Their future will be determined in the political arena.

The alleged 1857 murder of a wealthy Bond Street dentist by a Emma Cunningham, a young widow he was believed to be sexually involved with, served to distract many New Yorkers from the deepening national crisis over slavery in the United States. Public anxieties seemed well founded-domestic murders committed by women were believed to be increasing sharply, jeopardizing society's patriarchal structure. The penny press created public demand for a swift solution. The inadequacy of the city police, complicated by the state's decision to install a new force, resulted in the rival forces battling it out on the streets. Elected coroners conducting inquests and elected D.A.'s prosecuting alleged culprits fed a tendency to rush to judgment. New York juries, all men, were reluctant to send a middle class woman to the gallows. At trial, Cunningham proved a formidable and imaginative member of the so-called weaker sex and was acquitted. This reexamination places the story in its social and political context.

In 1855, Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith began a flirtation with Pierre L'Angelier, a handsome clerk-for her a mere diversion. But L'Angelier sought social mobility. Their class disparity gave her control of the intrigue but when the relationship turned sexual the power imbalance shifted. Victorian authorities recognized irregular unions in certain cases. L'Angelier considered Smith his wife, a part she at first discreetly played. When he refused to step aside and allow her a more socially acceptable marriage, his removal became necessary. Smith's sensational murder trial captivated both Britain and America. Despite compelling evidence of guilt, various factors lead to her acquittal-her class and gender, the peculiarities of Scottish law-and many believed the case went to trial only because the Crown feared blatant confirmation that justice was not blind.

Against the broad historical background of economic globalisation and dwindling nation-state resources, this book examines the impact of the end of the Cold War and of the geo-political transformation of Europe on a wide range of issues, from changing perceptions of France's future world role to the internal ramifications of a new ideological and strategic environment. Multi disciplinary in focus, it draws on the expertise of historians, political scientists, sociologists and economists working in the field of French studies.

France and Fascism: February 1934 and the Dynamics of Political Crisis is the first English-language book to examine the most significant political event in interwar France: the Paris riots of February 1934. On 6 February 1934, thousands of fascist rioters almost succeeded in bringing down the French democratic regime. The violence prompted the polarisation of French politics as hundreds of thousands of French citizens joined extreme right-wing paramilitary leagues or the left-wing Popular Front coalition. This 'French civil war', the first shots of which were fired in February 1934, would come to an end only at the Liberation of France ten years later. The book challenges the assumption that the riots did not pose a serious threat to French democracy by providing a more balanced historical contextualisation of the events. Each chapter follows a distinctive analytical framework, incorporating the latest research in the field on French interwar politics as well as important new investigations into political violence and the dynamics of political crisis. With a direct focus on the actual processes of the unfolding political crisis and the dynamics of the riots themselves, France and Fascism offers a comprehensive analysis which will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scholars, in the areas of French history and politics, and fascism and the far right.