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Exceptional Pragmatism. The French State at war in 1914-1918
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Purseigle, Pierre (2023) Exceptional Pragmatism. The French State at war in 1914-1918. First World War Studies, 14 (1). pp. 71-89. doi:10.1080/19475020.2024.2307057 ISSN 1947-5020.
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WRAP-Exceptional-Pragmatism-The-French-State-at-war-in-1914-1918-Purseigle-2023.pdf - Accepted Version Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only until 18 September 2025. Contact author directly, specifying your specific needs. - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (425Kb) |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/19475020.2024.2307057
Abstract
The 1914 German invasion left few people in doubt about the existential nature of the crisis faced by the French Republic. France was soon forced to contemplate the prospect of defeat, of the loss of national sovereignty, and of the evisceration of its industrial capacity. This justified the declaration of a “state of siege” on 2 August 1914. Giorgio Agamben positions France’s political tradition and its experience of the First World War at the core of his genealogy of the state of exception. To test out his interpretive framework, this article sets out to re-situate the French state of exception in its wartime context and to delineate a pragmatic and geographic approach to the belligerent state. It demonstrates that Agamben’s stimulating reflections on the state of exception misrepresent the nature of the French state. As the logic of mass mobilisation and participation transformed the relationship of individuals and groups to the state, it did so largely in a contingent and pragmatic way. In challenging monolithic and centralised conceptions of state authority, the social history of the conflict therefore contributes to deepen our understanding of the transformations of the state in the First World War.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D501 World War I D History General and Old World > DC France J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) K Law [LC] > K Law (General) |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | First World War Studies | ||||||||
Publisher: | Taylor and Francis online | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1947-5020 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 2023 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 14 | ||||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 71-89 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/19475020.2024.2307057 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Re-use Statement: | This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in First World War Studies on 18/03/2024, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/19475020.2024.2307057 | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 23 November 2023 | ||||||||
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