Postwar France

Postwar France

      Since the mid 1940’s, in a period known as the Glorious Thirties (a term coined by French demographer Jean Fourastié), France underwent groundbreaking transformations in order to rebuild itself from the ashes of the Second World War during which the country experienced major changes both economically and socially; in just three decades, France acquired one of the most competitive economies in the world, introduced an intricate social security system and saw the emergence of a middle class with one of the highest global living standards. Yet, after thirty years of strong economic development and prosperity, France’s unprecedented growth was greatly stunted by the 1973 Oil Crisis. The crisis was a result of an oil embargo by OAPEC (the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Companies) in response to the USA’s involvement in the Arab-Israeli War. The 1973 Oil Crisis eventually came down as a major reality-check for the French State as it saw its role challenged economically and socially, and thrived to move towards a more sustainable way to maintain its generous social programs without over-burdening the economy.

       The end of the Glorious Thirties marked the beginning of numerous social challenges to the role of the French State. The period following WWII up to the beginning of the 1970’s was marked by an unprecedented increase in yields and efficiency in the production of food and technological development which led to a dramatic increase in birth rates, life expectancy, and decrease of child mortality rates. After 1973, this period today known as the “baby-boom,” however, led to a major decrease in fertility rates as life expectancy increased and an ageing population. “There were 2.65 children per woman; in 1976 (…) 1.8 per woman.” ^[1] This slowly led to a diminishing workforce and a heavier burden on retirement funds. Although the years leading up to the 1970’s were marked by great social progress such as an increase in women’s rights and a shift away from a patriarchal society, such progress has also led to what sociologists call “a general crisis of values,” marking a shift of the French society from traditional values such as faith and marriage.^[2] Although this is arguably a problem, the rising number of divorces (which tripled between 1970 and 2000) and the exponential increase of children born to unmarried parents can only affect the youth negatively as the notion of “family” has weakened. The Oil Crisis has also had a negative impact on the perception of immigrants in metropolitan France. Whilst during the Glorious Thirties the arrival of immigrants was encouraged by government policy, the stagnating economic growth following the crisis has shed a bad light on non-European families who are blamed for crime and unemployment even though they account for the majority of the people living below the poverty line. Thus, social problems that have challenged the French State since the Oil Crisis range from the ageing population to a shift from traditional values to racial tensions among citizens that stem from economic pressures.

        The Oil Crisis also challenged the way the French State had ran its economy. Since the end of the Second World War, France had gone onto a massive campaign of economic development in order to compete with the USA and guarantee the country’s industrial independence. France’s desire to establish itself as an industrial power led it to begin a vast program of nationalization during which the state acquired many key sectors of the economy such as the aeronautics industry and the space program. Yet, with the inflation and rising unemployment rate that came with the Oil Crisis, the French State called its economic policies into question and slowly began distancing itself with Dirigisme. Since the 1980’s, the government slowly decentralized as it accepted principles of free-market capitalism and encouraged the privatizations of previously public companies in order to maintain competitiveness in the framework of globalization. Another stark contrast highlighting France’s reorientation of its economic policies is its decision to go global. Previous to the Oil Crisis, France mainly based its trades and investments in Europe; yet, as the oil crisis affected most of Western Europe, France has gone out of its comfort zone in search of new markets. Since the 1980’s, French transnational companies (such as Danone, Michelin)^[3] have extended their spheres of influence to as far as China. The Crisis of 1973 has thus called into question France’s socialist economic policies and challenged its competitivity; the French State thus had to resort to a renewal of French Capitalism.

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