Modern France [antikvár]

Preface This book seeks to portray Francé as a natíon in a state of mutation ín economy, society and landscape. In the course of teaching and research, the author has been made aware of the scarcity of literature available to students in English, attempting to analyse the structural and spatial changes which have transformed Francé since the Second World War. The pre-occupation of most advanced texts remains that of régiónál description, with little reference to the fluidity of the underlying social and economic processes of change which, the author believes, impel a reappraisal of habitual ideas and attitudes concerning our nearest Continental neighbour. Like all Gaul, the text is divided into three parts. Part One, devoted to patterns of social development, seeks to analyse the manner in which demographic and economic resurgence has reacted upon the supply of manpower, the geography of population and the character of settlement. Part Two reviews in turn the institutional background to planned economic growth, the infrastructure of the economy and the sectors of production, followed by an assessment of régiónál disparities resulting from unbalanced growth. The book is concluded in Part Three by a series of essays which seek to integrate the first two parts of the text by analysing problems of economic and social development at the régiónál level. The objectives of the book determined somé measure of divergence from orthodoxy. In particular, the physical basis of régiónál differentiation is not elaborated. The consistent theme of the book is the exposition of problems of economic and social organization and the physical background is thus viewed as a variable resource base rather than as a matter for individual description. Similarly, the régiónál system employed may aífront the scruples of the purist, whether of the traditional or régiónál science school. The author believes that the use of planning regions is a logical outgrowth of the central theme of the book and provides a more rational basis for the discussion of development problems than would a conventional régiónál framework. Every author must entertain periodic reserve on the value of his labours, and at such times the encouragement received from relations and colleagues