ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter places the evolution of the French polity in its broad historical perspective up until 1958. The chapter provides an overview of French political history, with particular emphasis on the role of the state in building a French identity and upon the legacy of the French revolution and its aftermath. The problem of political legitimacy is revealed as an essential problem throughout most of French history, the result of multiple social, economic and ideological cleavages and of territorial, linguistic and religious identities. Chapter 1 also highlights various sources of historical continuity between the pre-revolutionary monarchy (known as the ancien régime) and the post-revolutionary order, and puts into context the impact of political divisions upon the operation of French society.
