ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a picture of how the French public debate over the refugee crisis has developed between August 2015 and April 2016. It focuses on the refugee crisis enables us to deal with a highly resonant topic in the public sphere which has stood out as a central focus for the state, policy-makers and civil society. The chapter analyses the main dynamics such as the role that French citizens have had in the definition of the issue, the specific grids by which refugees have been framed (for example, as victims or otherwise as a threat), the degree to which organised publics have engaged with solidarity actions on behalf of refugees, as well as the main level shaping the public sphere (national, transnational, subnational). The solidarity contentions are also related to the arguments and justifications used by public claimants when endorsing or refusing solidarity with refugees.
