ABSTRACT
A France that embraced its own global and postcolonial heritage had become champion of the world. The empire might be over, but the colonies had come home, creating a new vision of France as a postcolonial nation. Many scholars and cultural commentators, both in France and abroad, have viewed postcolonial multiculturalism and universalism as fundamentally opposed to each other, and consequently have considered the very concept of the universal nation as in decline since the Second World War. For France, globalization and the new shape of international politics after the Cold War would pose multiple challenges. In particular, the suburbs came to represent the intersection of concerns about race and class in contemporary France. A major concern was the role played by Islam in the rise of postcolonial society in France. The Left had come back to power in France, and over the next few years Jospin tried to revive the socialist principles that had initially powered the Rose Revolution.
