Paris: The first thing I noted on arriving here at the New Year was the number of homeless in an especially cold winter. They seemed to me, a frequent visitor, to have expanded exponentially in recent years. Then, in ensuing months, I saw more and more people in the streets—not the homeless, but protesters. First in small clusters, later in larger numbers, and soon in large demonstrations. The principal target was a government bill, the CPE (Contrat première embauche or “First employment contract”), which allowed employers of large firms to fire new hires under age twenty-six without explanation within two years of taking them on. But there is a broader picture. The French word for “demonstration” is manifestation. A very uneasy society was manifesting itself loudly.

You expect to see demonstrators if you live, as I have been, near Place de la Bastille, whose most famous protest turned into a world-historical revolution. A tall greenish column stands where the fa...

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FOOTNOTES:

• [1] My thanks to Martin Schain for pointing this out to me as well as for his many valuable criticisms of an early draft of this article. Many thanks also to Michelle-Irène Brudny for her very thoughtful and helpful comments on the draft. Any errors or offenses are mine alone.
• [2] I borrow—somewhat expropriate—a formulation in Przeworski.