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Paul Smith

Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

As an undergraduate I read History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, which was a Senate Institute of the University of London back in the day, but which is now part of UCL. Then I went up to read for a one-year taught masters at St Antony's Oxford. At Oxford I met up with Robert Gildea (then at Merton, now Professor of Modern History at Worcester College) and who, in due course, became the supervisor for my D.Phil thesis on the French women's movement between the two world wars. My thesis later became my first published book. Since then I have published a history of the French Senate (1870-2004, in 2 volumes) and a study of the Senate under the Fifth Republic. I now work on principally contemporary French politics , with particular emphasis on political relations and institutions.

I worked at the University of Salford (1990-1991) and University College Dublin (1991-1992), before joining the Department of French and Francophone Studies here at Nottingham in September 1992. In 2012 I was elected visiting professor in the Department of History at the University of Limoges in France.

Expertise Summary

My fields of expertise are French history in the 19th and 20th centuries, contemporary politics, especially political institutions and elections.

Teaching Summary

In the first year I teach on and convene a module called France: Histoire et Mythologies, which uses visual culture as a means to introduce students to French history and the construction of the… read more

Research Summary

I am a historian who specialises in 19th and 20th century French politics, political institutions and political culture. I have particular research interests in the French Senate, Feminism in France… read more

Selected Publications

  • SMITH, P., 2005. A History of the French Senate: Vol. I, The Third Republic 1870-1940 Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2009. The Senate of the Fifth French Republic Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • SMITH, P., 2007. <i>Sénat ou pas Sénat</i>? The "First" Council of the Republic. In: KNAPP, A., ed., The Uncertain foundation: France at the Liberation, 1944-47 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 41-56
  • SMITH, P., 2006. A History of the French Senate: Vol.II, The Fourth and Fifth Republics 1946-2004 Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

In the first year I teach on and convene a module called France: Histoire et Mythologies, which uses visual culture as a means to introduce students to French history and the construction of the national myth (or myths) from the middle ages to the 20th century.

In the second year I teach Huit tableaux: Art and Politics in 19th century France 1799-1871, which again uses visual culture as a way-in to the discovery of French history and politics from the rise of Napoleon to the fall of the Paris Commune and through no fewer than seven changes of regime.

At final-year level, I teach a module called Président et parlement: la vie politique au jour le jour , which does pretty much what it says on the tin: analyzing the conduct of French politics through a variety of media.

Current Research

I am a historian who specialises in 19th and 20th century French politics, political institutions and political culture. I have particular research interests in the French Senate, Feminism in France 1914-1945, French local government, and Contemporary French Politics in general.

My most recent research and publication outputs have concentrated on the French Senate, from 1870 to the present day. Click on the link below to see my contribution to a colloquium on the French Senate and the Fifth Republic held in the Senate on 3 June 2009

http://videos.senat.fr/video/videos/2009/video2291.html

For the Lusophones among you, here are some thoughts about the state of French politics after the 2010 regional elections:

http://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia182/2010/03/22/mundo,i=181293/SARKOZY+REFORMULA+GOVERNO+APOS+DERROTA+DA+DIREITA+NA+FRANCA.shtml

And a contribution to Ezra Klein's blog in the Washington Post:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/the_politics_of_nations_france.html

My most recent publication on the Senate came out with Palgrave in 2010. P.Smith, Senate of the Fifth French Republication

More recently (February 2012), I have been visiting professor in the history department at the Université de Limoges (France)

Past Research

French Feminism 1918-1940: the French Senate 1870 to present; French politics

Future Research

I continue to research and write on the Senate, but my future research plans focus on French politics and elections in the contemporary era, specifically on the 2012 presidential election and term 2012-2017.

  • SMITH, PAUL, 2010. ‘«Le talent et l’illustration»: A contribution to the prosopography of the Senate of the Third Republic’. In: GARRIGUES, J, ANCEAU, E, ATTAL, F, CASTAGNEZ, N, DAUPHIN, N, JANSEN, S and TORT, O., eds., Assemblées et Parlements dans le monde du Moyen-Âge à nos jours Paris: Assemblée nationale. 315-330
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2009. 'Le défi institutionnel: du Conseil de la République à la réforme Balladur'. In: LES COLLOQUES DU SENAT, ed., Le Sénat de la Cinquième République - Les cinquante ans d'une assemblée bicentenaire Editions du Sénat. 52-57
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2009. The Senate of the Fifth French Republic Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2008. Le Parlement dans la Cinquième République (Table ronde): Colloque du 15 mai 2008 In: La Cinquième République au Parlement. 78-80
  • SMITH, P., 2007. <i>Sénat ou pas Sénat</i>? The "First" Council of the Republic. In: KNAPP, A., ed., The Uncertain foundation: France at the Liberation, 1944-47 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 41-56
  • SMITH, P., 2006. A History of the French Senate: Vol.II, The Fourth and Fifth Republics 1946-2004 Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2006. Review of Anne Verjus, Le cens de la famille - Les femmes et le vote, 1789-1848 Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine. 53(3), 198-200
  • SMITH, P., ed., 2005. Irreconcilable differences? Centre, periphery and the space between in French history [Special issue of <i>Nottingham French Studies</i> 44.1] Nottingham: University of Nottingham.
  • SMITH, P., 2005. A History of the French Senate: Vol. I, The Third Republic 1870-1940 Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2005. 300 senators in search of a role: the French Senate as <i>chambre de la décentralisation</i>. In: SMITH, PAUL, ed., Irreconcilable differences? Centre, periphery and the space between in French history (a special issue of Nottingham French Studies) 44.1. Nottingham: University of Nottingham. 82-95
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2005. Review of Nagai, N, 'Les conseillers municipaux sous la IIIe Republique (1871-1914)' Modern and Contemporary France. 13(4), 320-321
  • SMITH, P., 2005. 300 senators in search of a role: the French Senate as chambre de décentralisation Nottingham French Studies. 44(1), 82-95
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2004. Review of The New Biography: Performing Femininity in Nineteenth-Century France English Historical Review. VOL 119(NUMBER 482), 815-816
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2001. Review of Alexander, M.S. (ed), 'French History since Napoleon' (Arnold 1999) Modern and Contemporary France. 9(3), 381
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2001. Contemporary French Cultural Studies - edited by William KIDD and Sian REYNOLDS Journal of European Studies (Abingdon). VOL 9(PART 2), 281
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2000. Le Sénat de la Cinquième République: Évolution d'une chambre de contestation. In: Transgression et contestation; Essais sur la littérature française et francophone II (Actes de la Journée d'études Nottingham/Strasbourg 2000) 97-112
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2000. 'Une anomalie parmi les democraties modernes': reform and the French Senate Modern and Contemporary France. VOL 8(PART 2), 252-254
  • SMITH, PAUL, 2000. Review of Delporte, C., <em>La IIIe République 1919-1940. De Poincaré à Paul Reynaud</em> (Editions Pygmalion-Gérard Watelet, 1998) Modern and Contemporary France. 8(4), 542-543
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1998. Review of Keiger, J, <em>Raymond Poincaré. A Political Life</em> Modern and Contemporary France. 6(1),
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1998. Review of Mayeur, J-M and Corbin, A (eds), <em>Les Immortels du Sénat. Les cent-seize inamovibles de la Troisième République,1875-1918</em> Modern and Contemporary France. 6(1),
  • SMITH, PAUL., 1997. Review of Kirstin Ross, <em>Fast Cars, Clean Bodies: Decolonisation and the Reordering of French Culture for History</em> 82(265),
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1997. Political Parties, Parliament and Women's Suffrage in France, 1919-1939 French History. VOL 11(NUMBER 3), 338-358
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1996. Feminism and the Third Republic : women's political and civil rights in France, 1918-1945 Oxford : Clarendon.
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1996. 'A quoi sert le Senat?' Reflections on French bicameralism Modern and Contemporary France. VOL 4(NUMBER 1), 51-60
  • SMITH, PAUL, 1995. Fifty years on and more: women's rights in French public life Modern and Contemporary France. VOL 3(NUMBER 2), 198

Department of French and Francophone Studies

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telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5873
fax: +44 (0) 115 951 5812
email: french@nottingham.ac.uk