France has shifted toward more "normal" politics since the mid 1960s. That's saying a lot for a country that has had three monarchies, five republics, two empires, and a neo-fascist regime in the years since its revolution in 1789. Hauss's lively and up-to-date new text looks beyond "de Gaulle's revolution," tracing France's historical development up to the present and describing with fresh insight its political culture, parties, interest groups, and institutional system, as well as its place in the EU and the larger global economic order. Hauss offers lively analysis of recent events and issues, including the May 2007 presidential elections; hot-button policy issues like immigration and the assimilation of non-Westerners into the French cultural and political landscape and the impact of the EU on France's economic policies.