Gunn J.A. When the French Tried to be British: Party, Opposition and the Quest for Civil Disagreement, 1814-1848

McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009. — 511 p.In When the French Tried to Be British, J.A.W. Gunn studies the French effort during 1814 to 1848 to adopt the set of common understandings that lent a comparative stability to British government. The institutions of a loyal opposition and disciplined political parties seemed to be implicit in the parliamentary model, but their acceptance foundered on French reluctance to accord legitimacy to political opponents. A sophisticated minority - including such major figures as Chateaubriand, Constant, Mme de Stael, and Guizot - recognized the need for something approaching the British political culture, but the wounds opened by the Revolution could not readily be healed. A more or less complete acceptance of the civil disagreement that was the spirit of the British model had to await the Fifth Republic. To a surprising degree, the French have remained unaware of the struggle in the Restoration and after to make political pluralism respectable. When the French Tried to Be British makes a significant contribution to the political and intellectual history of Restoration France and, to a lesser degree, the July Monarchy and offers much food for thought for those attempting similar ventures today.