ABSTRACT
Addressing a new religious pluralism since the 1980s, France opposes its “French model of laicity” to a multiculturalist Anglo-Saxon model viewed as a hazardous way towards social fragmentation. The debates involve questions about its colonial history, with regards to Jewish and Muslim populations in Algeria, as well as more recent issues about renascent anti-Semitism or the social integration of Muslim migrants and their descendants. After comparing the legal and political treatment of these populations in past Algeria and in contemporary France, we analyze their interrelations today, ranging from cultural affinities to resentment and a ‘competition of victims’. Regulation of the new pluralism thus questions the supposed neutrality of the modern state and its potential evolution towards recognition of the many components of French identity.
