How French Are France's Problems College of Arts and Sciences

The “yellow vest” demonstrations in France began in November as a response to a proposed gas tax increase. They quickly expanded to more violent protests against a wide range of perceived injustices perpetrated by non-responsive elites and the government of President Macron.

The events fit a long French tradition of how to influence an unresponsive state. But many of the grievances, such as rising income inequality and worries about national identity, do not seem peculiarly French at all. So to what extent is the French conflict a harbinger for other countries, and to what extent is it peculiarly French? Patrick Chamorel earned both his university degree and Ph.D. from Sciences-Po in Paris and holds a Master in Public Law from the University of Paris. In the 1990s he served as a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Industry and in the Policy Planning Office of the Prime Minister. But for more than two decades he has lived mainly in the United States, studying and teaching about U.S. politics, French politics, and transatlantic relations.