Students on a theater trip in Iceland.
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The Tocqueville Society and the Center for Critical Democracy Studies at the American University of Paris, with the support of Princeton University and the Chambrun Foundation, are delighted to sponsor an interdisciplinary conference in Paris on 鈥淎 Quarter-Millennium of Franco-American Relations,鈥 to be held on May 28-29, 2026, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
For the entire existence of the United States, its story has been deeply intertwined with that of France. Secret French aid in 1776-78, and Lafayette鈥檚 arrival in America, followed by a formal military alliance, proved crucial for the cause of U.S. independence. In the nineteenth century, France鈥檚 sale of the Louisiana territory allowed the United States to expand westward. In the 1880s, France sent the Statue of Liberty as a gift to the Americans. On two occasions in the twentieth century, American armies crossed the Atlantic to fight for France, on French soil.
France and the U.S. remain both formal allies and key trading partners, with millions of their citizens crossing the Atlantic each year to visit the other. Each country also looms large in the other鈥檚 literary and artistic imaginations, as exemplified by figures as different as Benjamin Franklin, Ren茅 de Chateaubriand, James Fenimore Cooper, Claude Monet, Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, Anna Julia Cooper and Michel Foucault.
There have been tensions and worse, from the Quasi War of 1798-1800 to complex relations with the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War, de Gaulle鈥檚 withdrawal from NATO command, France鈥檚 opposition to the Iraq War of 2003, and the current tensions between the U.S. and the European Union. Even as some Americans once warned about 鈥淔rench theory,鈥 now some French critics assail American 鈥wokisme.鈥 And these sister republics, born in the same age of revolution, have always gazed upon each other as into a distorting mirror, hoping that by understanding the other, they will learn to understand themselves. One of the greatest observers of American society and politics was also among the finest observers of French society and politics: Alexis de Tocqueville. In this current moment of international tension, understanding the relationship is more important than ever.
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18:00-20:00听Reception at H么tel de Talleyrand听|听By invitation only
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08:45-09:15听Coffee
09:15-09:30听Art Goldhammer听| Introductory Remarks
09:30-11:15听Panel 1 | Revolutions
11:15-11:30听Coffee Break
11:30-13:15听Panel 2 | Political Economy
13:15-14:30听Lunch
14:30-15:45听Plenary Lecture:听David Bell听| Distorting Mirrors: France and the US in Each Other's Eyes
15:45-16:00听Coffee Break
16:00-17:45听Panel 3 | History: Trade and International Relations
17:45听Reception at 绿巨人视频
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08:45-09:15听Coffee
09:15-11:00听Panel 4 | Theory
11:00-11:15听Coffee break
11:15-12:45 Panel 5 | History: 20th century
12:45-14:00听Lunch
14:00-15:15听Plenary Lecture: Fran莽oise M茅lonio听| Tocqueville, l鈥橝m茅rique 芦 au point de vue fran莽ais 禄
15:15-15:30听Coffee break
15:30-17:00 Panel 6 | History: 19th century