A couple of days before the terrorist attacks in Paris, a book arrived at my office. I placed What’s Wrong with France? by Laurent Cohen-Tanugi on the shelves, alongside a line of similar titles: France on the Brink, France in Denial, France in Freefall and France’s Suicide.
When it comes to “declinism”, the Americans are mere amateurs. The terrorists who attacked France last week were assaulting a nation that was already undergoing a profound crisis of confidence. The declinists point to a host of afflictions: racial tension, political extremism, high unemployment, rising debt, declining international influence and widespread contempt for the ruling elite.
Yet one unexpected and welcome effect of the terrorist attacks is that they have served as a reminder of what is right with France — as well as what is wrong. The millions of people who marched on the streets on Sunday were demonstrating that the national motto — “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” — is more than a phrase, drawn from the French Revolution and taught to bored schoolchildren. These are living ideas that France has rallied around now that they are under deadly assault.