The aim of this module is to allow students to study a distinctive aspect of modern French politics. France has a history of violence in revolution, counter-revolution, coup d'etat, foreign occupation and protracted colonial wars, not to mention lower-level violence on the streets and in factories. We will look at some influential and important theories of political violence, including those of Georges Sorel, Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. We will also examine actual moments of particularly intense violence -- including Occupation and Resistance, 1940-1944; the Algerian struggle for independence, 1954-1962; and May 1968 -- and ask whether the contemporary French political scene is much less prone to violence than in the past. At the centre of discussion will be important contemporary questions such as: 'Is political violence always wrong?' and 'does liberal democracy represent an advance over other, more explicitly violent forms of political arrangements?'
This module aims to introduce students to the key events, people, and ideas of the French Revolution through contemporary sources. A range of material will be used, from the Déclarations des droits de l'homme, to short pamphlets, to Robespierre's speeches, to the words of the Marseillaise. By the end of the module, students will be able to assess both the key events of the French Revolution and the role of the writer in times of revolution, when censorship, rhetoric and propaganda all have a part to play.