[2002-2012] A New Century: Social Unrest and Global Crises

The story of France in the first decade of the new millennium begins not with a bang, but with a jingle. On January first, 2002, the familiar, colorful French franc, a symbol of national identity for centuries, vanished from pockets and purses, replaced by the crisp, unfamiliar banknotes of the Euro. It was a moment of immense European ambition, a physical manifestation of a united continent. Yet, even as citizens learned the new conversions, a deep political tremor was preparing to shake the nation to its core. The presidential election that spring delivered a shockwave: the far-right nationalist, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had made it to the second round, pushing the Socialist candidate out of the race. Suddenly, the country faced a stark choice. In response, millions of French citizens, from the political left and right, poured into the streets not in support of the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, but in protest against Le Pen’s xenophobic platform. They marched under the banner of Republican values, and Chirac was re-elected with a staggering 82 percent of the vote, a victory born not of popularity, but of necessity.

This dramatic start set the tone for a decade of profound challenges. In the summer of 2003, a silent, invisible crisis descended. A heatwave of historic intensity, known as *la canicule*, gripped the country. In a nation where air conditioning was a rarity, temperatures in Paris remained above 35 degrees Celsius for over a week. The heat buckled roads and warped train tracks. But its most devastating toll was on the elderly, many left alone during the traditional August holidays. In the end, the heatwave claimed an estimated 15,000 lives, a national trauma that exposed deep flaws in social and healthcare safety nets. While France mourned, President Chirac was also making his mark on the world stage, leading a defiant opposition to the United States-led invasion of Iraq. His foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, delivered a powerful, impassioned speech at the United Nations, arguing against the war and championing diplomacy. For a moment, France reasserted its unique voice in global politics, a stance that resonated with many around the world but strained relations with key allies.

Internally, however, the fissures of a divided society were cracking wider. Tensions simmered in the *banlieues*, the concrete housing estates ringing France's major cities, home to large populations of immigrant families from North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Decades of high unemployment, racial discrimination, and a sense of alienation had created a volatile atmosphere. On the evening of October 27, 2005, in Clichy-sous-Bois, a grim suburb northeast of Paris, two teenagers, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, were electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from the police. Their deaths were the spark that lit the fuse. What followed was three weeks of the most intense urban unrest France had seen in forty years. Night after night, the sky glowed orange with the light of burning cars—over 9,000 in total. The violence spread to nearly 300 towns and cities. It wasn't a revolution with clear leaders or demands; it was a howl of rage from a generation that felt invisible, forgotten, and trapped. The government declared a state of emergency as the acrid smell of smoke and the wail of sirens became the nation’s nightly soundtrack.

The fires eventually subsided, but the social embers continued to glow. The riots catapulted the ambitious and hard-line Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, into the national spotlight. His tough-on-crime rhetoric and promises to restore order resonated with a frightened public. In 2007, he ran for president with a whirlwind of energy, promising a clean break—a *rupture*—with the past. His campaign was a modern spectacle, a stark contrast to the staid traditions of French politics. He faced Ségolène Royal, the first woman to be a major party's presidential candidate, in a contest that captivated the nation. Sarkozy won, and his presidency began at a frantic pace. He was a constant presence in the media, a so-called "hyper-president" involved in every dossier, his private life with model and singer Carla Bruni becoming public fascination. He immediately set to work on reforms, liberalizing labor laws and universities, and projecting a pro-business, pro-American image that was a sharp departure from Chirac's era. In Paris, a new sense of modernity was palpable; in July 2007, the city launched the Vélib’ bike-sharing system, and its grey stands, filled with sturdy bicycles, quickly became an iconic part of the urban landscape.

Just as France was adapting to this new political dynamism, a global storm was gathering. In the autumn of 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the United States sent a shockwave across the world, and the global financial crisis arrived at France's door. The crisis choked off credit, shuttered businesses, and sent unemployment rates climbing once again, reaching over 9 percent by 2009. The optimism of the early Sarkozy years evaporated, replaced by a grim mood of austerity and anxiety. The government scrambled to bail out banks and cushion the economic blow, but for ordinary people, the crisis meant belt-tightening and uncertainty about the future. Sarkozy, the energetic reformer, was now forced to become a crisis manager. His high-octane style, once seen as dynamic, now struck many as frantic and his personal glamour, once a source of fascination, was now criticized as "bling-bling" and out of touch with the struggles of the people.

As the decade drew to a close, the nation remained on edge, grappling with its identity in a rapidly changing world. A high-profile scandal in 2011 involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and the frontrunner for the 2012 presidential election, added a layer of political drama and disillusionment. The period from 2002 to 2012 was one of profound contradiction for France. It was a time of deep-seated social anger and remarkable national unity; of defiant independence on the world stage and humbling economic reality at home. The decade saw the birth of the Euro, the eruption of the *banlieues*, the election of a president who promised to change everything, and a global crisis that changed it all for him. It was a decade that forced France to look in the mirror and confront the difficult questions of who it was, and who it wanted to become in a new, uncertain century.