Paul Smith
Associate Professor in French History and Politics, Faculty of Arts
Contact
Biography
As an undergraduate I read History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 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, later University 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: Feminism and the Third Republic: Women's Political and Civil Right in France 1918-1945 (OUP). Since then I have published a history of the French Senate (1870-2004, in 2 volumes) and a separate study of the Senate under the Fifth Republic. I now work principally on contemporary French politics, with particular emphasis on political relations and institutions and on the making of memory. I have a French politics blog called Fifth-and-a-Half Republic.
My Twittter/X handle is @fifthandahalf
I worked in th Modern Languages and Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Salford (1990-1991) and then in the Department of History at 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.
I regularly appear on France24, TRT World (Ankara) and other British and international news channels, online and print media and also have written articles on French culture and politics for The Conversation. My media work was recognized by the University of Nottingham with the award of Media Expert of the Year for 2018 in the university's Knowledge Exhcange and Impact Awards. The university's press office commissioned a report on my work on the 2017 French presidential elections that estimated my contributions to had a 'media value' of £3.6 million.
Since 2023, I have been the author of the French history chapter for Taylor and Francis's Europa World. This is an annually updated, 15,000-word piece on French politics since 1958. If your institution has a subscription, it can be found via the link below.
https://www.europaworld.com/
Finally, thanks to the reputation abroad of my work on French feminism, I have recently been invited twice to the University of Milan to speak on feminism in France in the 20th century.
Expertise Summary
My fields of expertise are contemporary French politics and institutions, and French history in the 19th and 20th centuries, French feminism and suffragism in the 20th century
Teaching Summary
I teach on two first year modules. The first, France: History and Identity - from the Revolution to World War Two uses visual culture as a means to introduce students to French history and the… read more
Research Summary
I am a historian who specializes 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, P., 2009. The senate of the fifth French republic Palgrave Macmillan.
SMITH, PAUL, 2007. 'Sénat ou pas Sénat'? 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, PAUL, 2006. A History of the French Senate: Vol.II, The Fourth and Fifth Republics 1946-2004 Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
I teach on two first year modules. The first, France: History and Identity - from the Revolution to World War Two uses visual culture as a means to introduce students to French history and the construction of the national myth (or myths) - what the French call the roman national - from the French Revolution to the 20th century.
The second is called Contemporary France: War and Memory. It examines how the memory of the Second World War and of the Algerian War have been and still are mediated and manipulated in contemporary French politics and society.
In the second year I teach Huit tableaux: Art and Politics in 19th century France 1799-1871, which 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. In that period, which historians sometimes call the short nineteenth century, France changed political regime seven times. At the same time, art became a key means of conveying prestige and grandeur and of exploring and expressing political ideas to a degree perhaps not seen before and certainly not since, particularly as the new craze for photography began to push art into the background with its immediacy and perceived (though misleading) 'truth'.
At final-year level, I focus on my interest and expertise in French political institutions and teach a module called La République gaullienne 1958-1969. Put simply, the module is about the first founding decade of the French Fifth Republic under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle. In reality, the module reaches back to the Second World War and the debates about how France, when it emerged after the war, should (re)organize itself politically. While the thought and ideas of de Gaulle are pre-eminent, the module also looks at other models (the Fourth Republic 1946-1958, for example) and introduces students to French political culture before 1958 and how and why de Gaulle sought to shake things up... and with what success. And if you think de Gaulle no longer has any relevance to France in the 21st century, then you haven't been paying attention.
Current Research
I am a historian who specializes 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.
I am a regular contributor on French politics to The Conversation and a variety of other online publications. I have also made regular contribution to TV, including France 24, TRT World, and Al Jazeera. I have also appeared on BBC radio and I am often contacted for comment by British and international press outlets.
I have a French politics blog, called Fifth-and-a-Half Republic, where you can find my recent comments on French politics and also a link to my contributions to The Conversation: - www.fifthandahalfrepublic.com/
My most recent full-length monograph, on the French Senate came out with Palgrave in 2010.
In February 2012, I was visiting professor in the history department at the Université de Limoges (Fra
June 2014 found me back at the French Senate for a colloquium on parliaments and the Great War. Afterwards, I was asked to contribute to a brief discussion on the French parliamentary TV channel. (You have to go about 14 minutes into the clip below)
http://replay.publicsenat.fr/vod/24h-senat/faustine-saint-genies,fabienne-bock,paul-smith/152331
And in late August 2014 on Al Jazeera. Not my finest hour, but in my defence the questions weren't up to much... (Run the video to about 1.50)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/french-leader-calls-assad-jihadist-ally-201482891950519751.html
Here are some thoughts about the 2014 French Senate elections: https://theconversation.com/how-the-far-right-landed-in-the-french-senate-32297
I have also made a number of other contributions to The Conversation
On Sarkozy's return to French politics: https://theconversation.com/sarkozy-sets-his-sights-on-2017-election-as-rivals-flounder-34561
On French local elections in which half the candidates and half the elected councillors are women
https://theconversation.com/in-this-election-50-of-the-winners-are-guaranteed-to-be-women-39076
On conflict within the French Front National:
https://theconversation.com/le-pen-game-of-unhappy-families-unsettles-frances-far-right-front-national-41263
On regional elections in France in December 2015
https://theconversation.com/french-regional-elections-no-one-can-dismiss-le-pen-as-an-also-ran-now-51616
https://theconversation.com/has-france-really-seen-the-back-of-the-front-national-52228
In July 2016 I had a piece published on the portrayal of politics on television, writing on the original British House of Cards for the French periodical Parlement[s]
http://www.parlements.org/revueparlements.html#24
In recent times my focus has turned more to contemporary French political history. Since 2023 I have been the author of the French history chapter in Taylor and Francis's Europe World. This is an annually updated, 15,000-word chapter on France since 1958. If you or your institution have a subscription, it can be found here:
https://www.europaworld.com/
In 2023 I was invited to the University of Milan to contribute to a conference on women's rights and feminist action in inter-war Europe. I am delighted to say that I have been invited back in May 2025 to speak about women in French politics and parliament since 1945.
The 2023 paper is due to appear imminently in Donne in Europa nel primo Novecento. Tra realtà e rappresentazione, edited by Professor Michela Minesso, (Franco Angeli).
Past Research
French Feminism 1918-1940: the French Senate 1870 to present; French politics; the politics of memory
Future Research
In addition to a piece on women in parliament and politics in France, I am also currently working on a review of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Now the People for the Times Literary Supplement.
PAUL SMITH, 2025. Women's Political, Social and Civil Rights in France in the 1920s. In: Donne in Europe nel primo Novecento: Tra realta e rappresentazione Franco Angeli. 63-71
PAUL SMITH, 2024. France - Western Europe 2025 Taylor and Francis. Available at: <https://www.europaworld.com/country/France/country-survey?id=fr.hi-fr.hi> SMITH, PAUL, 2016. '"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment" House of Cards de Michael Dobbs Parlement[s]: Revue d'histoire politique. 24(2), 121-30
SMITH, P., 2013. "L'histoire bling-bling": Nicolas Sarkozy and the historians. In: KARNER, C. and MERTENS, B., eds., The use and abuse of memory: interpreting World War II in contemporary European politics Transaction Publishers. 121-136
SMITH, PAUL and PERRY, SHEILA, 2013. Introduction: The French Electoral Year 2011-2012 Nottingham French Studies. 52(2), 1 PERRY, S. and SMITH, P., eds., 2013. Vivement dimanche: media, politics and France's electoral year 2011-12: Nottingham French Studies 52(2) Edinburgh University Press.
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, P., 2009. The senate of the fifth French republic 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, PAUL, 2007. 'Sénat ou pas Sénat'? 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, PAUL, 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, PAUL, ed., 2005. Irreconcilable differences? Centre, periphery and the space between in French history [Special issue of Nottingham French Studies 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 'chambre de la décentralisation'. 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, 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., La IIIe République 1919-1940. De Poincaré à Paul Reynaud (Editions Pygmalion-Gérard Watelet, 1998) Modern and Contemporary France. 8(4), 542-543
SMITH, PAUL, 1998. Review of Keiger, J, Raymond Poincaré. A Political Life Modern and Contemporary France. 6(1),
SMITH, PAUL, 1998. Review of Mayeur, J-M and Corbin, A (eds), Les Immortels du Sénat. Les cent-seize inamovibles de la Troisième République,1875-1918 Modern and Contemporary France. 6(1),
SMITH, PAUL., 1997. Review of Kirstin Ross, Fast Cars, Clean Bodies: Decolonisation and the Reordering of French Culture for History 82(265),
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