The Aftermath of November 13: The Beginning and End of a "Culture of War"

Abstract:After the 13 November Terrorist attacks in Paris, a series of reactions at the heart of the political sphere and in the media made it possible to diagnose a "culture of war" comparable to a model developed in relation to the situation that prevailed in France at the outset of World War I, a century earlier. According to this model, a country is "at war" when the enemy is explicitly defined as a "barbarian." Additionally, the "heroism" of certain categories of individuals involved in discussions of the situation at hand—political leaders such as presidents, police, medical personnel and first responders—is emphasized. But the victims are also foregrounded as well, and presented as having "sacrificed themselves," along the same lines as voluntary combatants. Finally, an explicit call for a "Sacred Union" or for "national unity" informs the discourse of those in power, and particularly that of the President of the Republic.One comes to understand the extent to which, in the case of a grave crisis to which political leaders are obliged to ascribe meaning, the reference to 1914-18 continues to occupy a place of privilege in French political culture.