Gino G. Raymond is Professor of Modern French Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. He has written extensively on contemporary France and his publications include André Malraux: Politics and the Temptation of Myth (1995); The French Communist Party During the Fifth Republic (2005) and The A-Z of France (2010).

Professor Raymond has brought together a range of scholars to examine the nature and legacy of Nicolas Sarkozy's five-year presidency (2007 2012). The study offers the reader a penetrating analysis of developments in a range of policy areas Europe, Africa, diversity, pension reform, and culture. Several chapters also put Sarkozy's presidency in political, historical, and theoretical perspective. Given Sarkozy's unpopularity while President, many commentators saw his term as an aberration from a presidential norm. This book shows that, on the contrary, his presidency had a significant and consequent impact upon the changing nature of the presidency and upon French politics in general.' John Gaffney, Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, UK

• Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction; Gino G. Raymond 1. Nicolas Sarkozy: End of the Republican Monarchy?; Gino G. Raymond 2. 'Sarkozysm': From Political Ambivalence to Hard Right; Philippe Marlière 3. Sarkozy's Political Leadership and the Institutions of the Fifth Republic; Alistair Cole 4. Sarkozy and Europe: Back to the Future; Gino G. Raymond 5. 'A Piecemeal Approach with No Vision': French Policy Towards Africa Under Nicolas Sarkozy; Gordon D. Cumming 6. The Sarkozy Years: Attempting to Define a New Paradigm for Diversity Governance in France; Vincent Latour 7. Pension Reform Under Sarkozy: A Quantitative Rather Than a Qualitative Change; Jean-Paul Révauger 8. Culture and the State Under Sarkozy; David Looseley Conclusion; Gino G. Raymond Index