Dear Marianne,
To determine whether France is a nation-state or a multinational state
to a certain extent, it is first necessary to determine a definition
of the key term "nation". There are several ways to define what a
nation is, and in reality there are often overlappings and points of
contact between the definitions:
-1.- Nation as ethnical homogeneity
A nation is the historically grown community of a people living in an
organized state. Usually, one is born into this kind of nation;
members of minorities or immigrants are not easily accepted as new
parts of the nation, if at all.
-2.- Nation as homogeneity of language, ancestry, and traditions
A nation is the unity in language, culture, and tradion that has been
preserved in history. It is not defined by territorial borders.
-3.- Nation as a political federation
A nation is the politically organized community within the territory
of a state with ethnical aspects being nonrelevant.
Or, in a very brief definition:
A nation is a population with a certain sense of itself, a
cohesiveness, a commonality of attitudes and ideals and often, but not
always, a common language.
Now we will look at the composition of the population of France.
According to the CIA Factbook, France has a population of 60.18
million, with the following characteristics:
Ethnic groups:
Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese,
Basque minorities
Religions:
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%
Languages:
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages
(Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
And we compare those figures with the definitions of a nation:
-1.- Ethnical homogeneity
Applicable for France. However, though the "typical" French (see 2.)
make the overwhelming majority of the population, there are minorities
of a certain size which are not integral parts of the historically
grown French community, such as the Basques in the northern border
region with Spain, or the Algerians.
-2.- Homogeneity of language, ancestry, and traditions
Applicable for France. French has, although through sometimes very
repressive methods during the past centuries, become the common
language of the native inhabitants of France. The main body of what we
regard French today is mainly, but not exclusively, composed of
descendants of Celtic Gauls and Latins (Romans). Though there are
regional distinctions concerning traditions and conventions, most
French today share a common culture, including a predominant religion.
-3.- Political federation
The existence of France as a political entity with organizational
bodies and structures is a fact.
On the other side, what is the definition of a multinational state?
A multinational state is a territorial entity with common
organizational structures. Within its borders, various nations, each
with their own culture, traditions, customs, etc., dwell and form the
population. One of the more extreme examples from history is old
Austria: German Austrians and, after the mid-19th century, Hungarians
were the two predominant nations inside the state, while there were
also Ukrainians, Jews, Muslim and Christian Bosnians, Serbs, as well
as various other Slavonic peoples like Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenians,
Croatians, etc. To make things worse, many of those groups were not
limited to Austrian territory but existed also in neighboring states,
so there was a difference between nationality and citizenship for many
inhabitants of the Austrian Empire, with many conflicts and problems
concerning loyalty deriving from this situation.
Though modern France has its share of minorities, the situation is
different. The figures show that there is a clear majority of what one
could call a population "French by ethnical affiliation and/or
culture".
When taking into account that a "perfect" nation-state with a
completely consistent population is unlikely to exist under the
circumstances of reality, France obviously is a nation-state within
those limitations. Even the approx. 3.3 million immigrants and
descendants of immigrants from former French colonies, who have taken
French citizenship, do not change the great picture.
The members of nations other then the French dwelling within the
borders of France are, compared to the masses of French people, simply
too unimportant to justify labelling France a multinational state in
any way.
As a conclusion: France is a national state with a small number of
members of other nations living in its territory.
Sources:
CIA World Factbook: France
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html#People
Harper College: Cultural Geography - Cultural Diversity
http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/intro/clt/cltdiv/cltdivtx.htm
Tallahassee Community College: Governments and Governing
http://faculty.tcc.cc.fl.us/hss/quinnellk/pos2001/lecture/governments.htm
akademie.de Netlexikon: Nationalstaat (in German)
http://www.net-lexikon.de/Nationalstaat.html
akademie.de Netlexikon: Vielvölkerstaat (in German)
http://www.net-lexikon.de/Vielvoelkerstaat.html
Asylforschung in Deutschland: Migration in Europa - Ein Überblick (in German)
http://www.asylforschung.de/info_europa.htm
Search terms used:
frankreich nationalstaat vielvölkerstaat
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=frankreich+nationalstaat+vielv%C3%B6lkerstaat&meta=
"nation state" "multinational state"
://www.google.de/search?q=%22nation+state%22+%22multinational+state%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
france "nation state" multinational
://www.google.de/search?q=france+%22nation+state%22+multinational&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
nation definition
://www.google.de/search?q=nation+definition&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
"multinational state" definition
://www.google.de/search?q=%22multinational+state%22+definition&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
frankreich minderheiten basken bretonen
://www.google.de/search?q=frankreich+minderheiten+basken+bretonen&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
Hope this is what you were looking for!
Best regards,
Scriptor |
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