The Uncertain Foundation

NICHOLAS ATKIN Professor of Modern European History, University of Reading, UK PHILIPPE BUTON Professor of Contemporary History, University of Reims, France EMMANUEL CARTIER Lecturer in Public Law, Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon, France HERRICK CHAPMAN Associate Professor of History, New York University, USA CHARLES COGAN Senior Associate Fellow, the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA HILARY FOOTITT Senior Research Fellow in French, the University of Reading, UK DAVID GOLDEY Emeritus Fellow in Politics at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, UK ANDREW KNAPP Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History, University of Reading, UK NATALIA NAOUMOVA Senior Lecturer in European History, Lomonossov University, Moscow, Russia MARTIN SHIPWAY Lecturer in French Contemporary History and Politics, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK PAUL SMITH Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of Nottingham, UK OLIVIER WIEVIORKA Professor of Contemporary History, Aecole Normale Superieure, Cachan, France

France's liberation was expected to trigger a decisive break both with the Vichy régime and with the pre-war Third Republic. What happened was an untidy patchwork of unplanned continuities and false starts. This volume analyses the complex process of regime change, economic renewal, social transformation, and adjustment to a fast-evolving world.France's liberation was expected to trigger a decisive break both with the Vichy régime and with the pre-war Third Republic. What happened was an untidy patchwork of unplanned continuities and false starts. This volume analyses the complex process of regime change, economic renewal, social transformation, and adjustment to a fast-evolving world.