Course info

This course for the year  2025 concerns the French notion of "laïcité". Secularism is the French form of relationship between religion and politics. It is one of the most original aspects of the political, social and cultural reality of France. This "secularism" or “laïcité” describes a certain type of relationship between the public and political sphere and the status of religions. These relationships are marked by distancing and, sometimes, by a dimension of struggle and confrontation. Through secularism, religions in France are placed under “surveillance”: they tend to be reduced to the private sphere and they must in no case influence political life or even public and cultural life.

The French adventure of secularism was thus founded on the project of radically separating politics and religion. This adventure began in the 16th century and was often conflictual. Secularism mainly concerned relations between the State and the Catholic religion. Today, the question arises in a new context marked by the development of Islam. This is what is often called the “new secular question”.

This course will be both a history course and a political science course and aims above all to shed light on current issues and debates. The following subjects will be discussed in particular: the impact of the wars of religion (16th century), the power of the absolute State in the 17th and 18th centuries, the place of the Catholic Church in the monarchy of the Ancien Régime, the formulation of the idea of secularism in the Age of Enlightenment and during the Revolution of 1789, the installation of a “model” of modern secularism under the Republic (19th century and 20th century), the existence of a “culture” of anticlericalism, the school dispute , the new situation posed by the progression of Islam since the 1970s and the idea of a crisis of secularism today. We will particularly emphasize these last two points.

This course will present the history of this French secularism and its main debates. Its aim is to try to provide simple and clear perspectives on a particularly complex issue which is too often approached in a rapid and superficial manner. The course does not require any prior knowledge of history or political science from students. Comparisons with countries other than France will also be discussed.