At a time of profound political uncertainty across the Western world, what tools do we have to analyze the shape of political debate? Drawing on his research on contemporary French political culture, the speaker will try to suggest a number of ways that might help us understand politics. In particular, he will argue that binary categories of right and left are no longer fit for purpose and need to be replaced by overlapping analytical frameworks centred on ideas of the nation, debates surrounding citizenship, reform of the state, the future of the capitalist economy, and competing moral value systems.
