A considered look at the Mitterrand presidency as a whole, its place in French history, and the trends for the twenty-first century emerging under Chirac. The fourteen years during which Mitterrand was at the helm ushered in fundamental change in many different domains, as France faced up to new challenges in an increasingly uncertain world. This study evaluates the impact and legacy of the Mitterrand years in the following key areas: the Republic; socialism; Europe and foreign affairs; business and the economy; society; and culture.

List of Tables - Acknowledgements - List of Abbreviations - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction: The Mitterrand Era in Perspective; M.Maclean - PART 1: SOCIALISM AND THE STATE - Moins d'Etat ou Mieux d'Etat: The French Response to the Neo-Liberal Challenge; J.Hayward - A Dirigiste End to Dirigisme?; E.Cohen - The Crisis of the Left and the Renaissance of the Republican Model 1981-95; S.Berstein - The Parti Socialiste After Mitterrand: a Half-Finished Modernisation; D.Bell - PART 2: EUROPE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS - EMU and Presidential Leadership Under Fran¿s Mitterrand; K.Dyson & K.Featherstone - Independence and Interdependence: Foreign Policy over Mitterrand's Two Presidential Terms; D.David - PART 3: ECONOMY AND SOCIETY - The End of French Exceptionalism? Mitterrand's Economic and Social Policy in Perspective; H.Uterwedde - French Business in the Mitterrand Years: the Continuity of Change; J.Szarka - Industrial Relations in France: Towards a New Social Pact?; S.Milner - Women and Political Representation During the Mitterrand Presidency: or the Family Romance of the Fifth Republic; S.Reynolds - The Failure of Anti-Racist Movements in France, 1981-95; P.Fysh - PART 4: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY - Fran¿s Mitterrand Between Vichy and the Resistance; E.Duhamel - The Making of a President: Political Culture and Collective Memory in the Morvan; M.Demossier - The Political Leader and His Heritage; A.Cole PART 5: CULTURE - Mitterrand's Grands Projets: Monuments to a Man or Monuments to an Age?; E.Cahm - Socialist Film Policy and the Heritage Film; G.Austin - The State and the Broadcasting Media: All Change?; R.Kuhn - The Silence of the Left Intellectuals in Mitterrand's France; M.Cornick - Conclusion: The Mitterrand Legacy and the New Millennium; Mairi Maclean - Index