The Regionalist Movement in France 1890-1914 Jean Charles-Brun and French Political Thought

by Wright, Julian

• ISBN13: 9780199264889
• ISBN10: 0199264880
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-25
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This is the first full academic study of the political thought of the French regionalist movement in the Belle Epoque. Julian Wright has examined the private papers of Jean Charles-Brun, founder of the Federation Regionaliste Francaise, in detail. He has rethought the conceptual basis ofregionalism through Charles-Brun's intellectual biography, showing that it penetrated the political debates of the period as a commonplace in Republican arguments about state reform. Despite the often made association of regionalism with the right, Dr Wright reveals the diversity of political viewsexpressed, and demonstrates that the connection to left-wing federalism ws emphatically present in the intellectual background.Interwoven with this discussion is an examination of the personal mission of Charles-Brun. He saw himself as a reconciler, using his regionalism within a mission to heal the divisions of French politics and society. He argued that France's instability stemmed from an obsession with reforms thatfollowed a priori political models, and that politicians who sought to rethink the shape of the Republic needed to attend to the cultural or economic realities expressed in France's regions. Charles-Brun and his regionalist movement continue to have resonance in current debates aboutdecentralization in France.

Author Biography

Julian Wright is a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	xvii
PART I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Occultation of Regionalism in French History	3	(22)
2. Characteristics of Belle Époque Regionalism	25	(18)
PART II. THE IDEA OF REGIONALISM: REGIONALISTS AND FEDERALISTS
3. Charles-Brun and the Félibrige: Mistral or Louis-Xavier de Ricard?	43	(33)
4. The Sources of Charles-Brun's Federalism: Maurras or Proudhon?	76	(29)
PART III. REGIONALISM IN ACTION
5. Jeunesse or Sagesse? Charles-Brun and the Rejuvenation of the City	105	(28)
6. The Praxis of Regionalism: Context and Application	133	(31)
7. The Development of the FRF	164	(37)
PART IV. THE IMPULSE FOR RECONCILIATION
8. Art and Catholicism	201	(16)
9. Social and Political Reconciliation	217	(23)
Conclusion: Regionalism and the History of French Political Thought	240	(8)
Appendix I: The Charles-Brun archives at the Musée des Arts et Traditions populaires	248	(12)
Appendix II: Charles-Brun resigns from the Félibrige. Transcription of a letter in the Maurras papers	260	(2)
Bibliography	262	(19)
Index	281