The riots that have swept 300 French towns and cities in the past two weeks constitute a new and dramatic illustration of the pre-revolutionary situation that prevails in France. The latest violence comes in the wake of street protests in 1995, the shock of the 2002 presidential election and the electoral revolt of the May 2005 referendum on the European Union constitution.

On one side, desperate youths, prisoners of the housing estates, deprived of training and employment, lock themselves into delinquency and pursue a nihilistic violence that excludes all forms of representation or political expression. On the other side, an absence of leadership translates into a disproportionate official response, with recourse to the 1955 law governing states of emergency and curfews. This hardens the contours of a civil war – the only antecedents being Algeria in 1955 and New Caledonia in 1985 – and contrasts sharply with the weakness of government proposals for integration: for example, lowering the age of apprenticeship to 14; extra housing subsidies; creation of a “national cohesion and equal opportunity” agency; and assigning government officials to equal opportunity duties.