2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Philosophy of the French Republi and Globalisation : the Universalist Nation-State and its Outside
| Project/Area Number |
13610003
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Philosophy
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
MASUDA Kazuo The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (70209435)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2003
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| Keywords | France / Republic / Nation-State / Globalization / Human rights / Community / Universalism / Integration |
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| Research Abstract |
In France we can find a republican tradition different from the American one. In my research, I tried to investigate and analyze the French tradition from the philosophical point of view, completed with an approach inspired from area studies.
The principle of the French republic does not recognize "intermediate groups", demands a strict separation of religion and politics symbolized by the so-called "scarf law", ignores "race" concept, and considers integration as a process to be followed by newcomers as individuals. This principle is based on a precise and elaborated logic, but raises problems closely linked with its conceptual structure. For example, it is difficult, in its framework, to have "affirmative actions" which would benefit a particular community. In my research, investigations and analyses were made on recent French theories of republic. A special emphasis was put on Dominique Schnapper for whom republic is a "comprehensive universalism" and on Etienne Balibar who points out the risk for the republic to be a "republican communautarism".
The two thinkers differs upon how republic accepts and rejects newcomers, upon how to situate colonialism - which was a former aspect of globalization. The Muslim community in France is the biggest one in the Western world. The problems raised by Islam, which does not recognize the separation of religion and politics, concern modern republics in general. It is a huge problem inherited from colonialism as well. This research has only reached the threshold of this vast field of investigation.
War in Iraq has broken out in March 2003, bringing a new light on the alliance between economic globalization and military strategy. A refection on American democracy being also needed, I was forced to detour around the discourse on "projection of power".
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