It took time to dawn on the people of France. One day they woke up and realised that the crisis, the malaise that hung over their country for the past decade, had lifted. The June 1997 legislative election was a turning point. So was France's World Cup victory 13 months later. The economic recovery accounts for much of the new French optimism: 2.7 per cent growth in 1999; the highest stock market gains in the world this year (more than 35 per cent) on the Paris bourse; and unemployment is finally falling.
If the news in France this year was the advent of the euro, the contaminated blood trial, the war in Yugoslavia, the State's ineptitude in dealing with Corsica, bank and oil company take-over battles and the "mad cow" war with Britain, the issues raised will resurface for years to come. Domestically, France is struggling to redefine Left and Right, to hold politicians accountable and to make its judiciary independent.
Internationally, France suffers the angoisse of a country whose power was superseded by that of the US in the wake of the first World War, who lost her colonies after the second World War and became globalised at the end of the century. The most important question on the minds of many French people, in the words of a French colleague, is "whether we'll have a say in the world of the 21st century, or whether we'll become Guatemala".
Prof Rene Remond, the foremost historian of 20th-century France, says "the idea of continuing to have influence, of being heard in the world, of not being told what to do and not being dependent - especially vis-a-vis American hegemony", has always been the core of France's commitment to Europe.
"A second, related idea," Prof Remond continues, "is that in this European ensemble, France presumes she will play a decisive role, especially in association with Germany. The assumption that France and Germany are the `engine of Europe' means that other countries will find it difficult to oppose a strong, joint demand by them."
The clearest fracture in French politics is now over Europe, and it criss-crosses the left-right division. "Europeanists" out-number "sovereignists" who fear that France will lose her identity in a European super-state, but the debate continues.
Virtually all French politicians, however, share a Jacobin, Colbertiste and Keynesian belief in the primacy of the state. "The French believe in politics - though not necessarily in politicians," Prof Remond says. "They believe that the destiny of men should be the result of political decisions. Others (the `Anglo-Saxons') believe more in individual initiative and markets. The French do not believe that the market can be the supreme regulator - because that means submitting to a force beyond your control. They think the state has a role to play, that it must not be a passive observer."
THE French have the impression that their vision of the future is making headway. The bombardment of Yugoslavia and the UN role in East Timor consecrated the French philosopher Jean-Francois Revel's 20-year-old concept of the "right of intervention". And at the Florence "reformers' summit" in November, even President Bill Clinton agreed that economic problems cannot be solved solely by economic measures. "Globalisation will either be the triumph of liberalism without checks and balances - which I doubt - or we will try to have a minimum of regulation," Prof Remond says. "The whole debate is about the legal framework, the rules, the constraints, the ways in which aberrant behaviour is punished. All this presumes a minimum of international institutions."
The World Trade Organisation negotiations which opened in Seattle in November will test France's ability to mould the world to its ideals. Europe is represented by the French EU Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who shares his mentor Jacques Delors' belief in a strong, determined Europe. France is leading the battle to have social protection included on the WTO agenda, and demands recognition of the "cultural exception" which would allow countries to protect their cinema and other cultural properties.
Yet the anti-American mood in France goes beyond ideology or commercial competition. To the annoyance of the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine constantly refers to the US "hyper-power". In telephone calls to Mr Vedrine, Mrs Albright reportedly announces herself as "hyper Madeleine". These days, it is hard to find a speech by a French official - whether left- or right-wing - that does not criticise the US.
After Paris contributed a large force to NATO's war on Yugoslavia, the French defence ministry published a 60-page report reproaching US generals for acting unilaterally, outside established NATO procedures. By warmly receiving the presidents of China and Iran this autumn, French leaders gave the impression they are trying to build a sort of non-aligned movement that would be free of US influence. And a series of raids on McDonald's restaurants made a folk hero of the militant goat farmer Jose Bove.
No Thanks, Uncle Sam, a book published in Paris in late November, is dedicated to Mr Bove. The journalist and Green member of the National Assembly Noel Mamere co-wrote it. "Madeleine Albright calls the US an `indispensable nation'," he says. "If you want to be a model for the rest of the world, you should sweep in front of your own door first." The popular French vision of America, as portrayed by Mr Mamere, is a place where guns proliferate, youths under 18 are executed, companies grow rich by exploiting Third World child labour and the population harbours a puritanical obsession with sex, as shown by the Lewinsky affair.
When he travels abroad, President Jacques Chirac's speech-writer has a habit of dropping in the phrase, "the 21st century will be . . .". The name of whatever country or region Mr Chirac is visiting fills in the blank: Japanese, Chinese, South American . . . The one sentence he never utters is: "The 21st century will be American." But deep down inside, the French know that, helas, that is most likely.
Lara Marlowe can be contacted at lmarlowe@irish-times.ie