Facing Terrorism in France

“France has been the target of more terrorist attacks than any other Western country. In this major contribution to the burgeoning new field of ‘terrorism studies’, these attacks are subjected to intense social scientific analysis.”

– Jolyon Howorth, Harvard University, USA


“This timely and important volume presents a compelling analysis of terrorism's impacts and the responses needed to counteract these effects.”


– Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University, USA


“Taking a very original perspective, this precious collection investigates the learning and healing processes that followed the Charlie Hebdo’s attacks.”


– Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy


“This fine, wide-ranging collection on the 2015 Paris attacks takes stock of what we know while charting future directions of research.”


– Stéphane Gerson, New York University, USA


“By bringing together perspectives from political science, sociology, psychology, and media studies, the editors produce the most complete treatment of a society’s reaction to these horrific events that I have seen.”


– Marc J. Hetherington, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA


From Charlie Hebdo to the Bataclan, the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Paris in 2015 shocked France and the world. This book offers a unique interdisciplinary approach on the complex responses of French society to these events: from the individual level (survivors of the Bataclan attack, emotional citizens paying homage to the victims, French Muslims) to the meso level of civic association and web communities, and the macro level of the State and public opinion.


Florence Faucher is Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po, Paris, France and Associate Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK.

Gérôme Truc is Research Fellow in Sociology at the French NationalCenter for Scientific Research (CNRS), France. He is the author of Shell Shocked: The Social Response to Terrorist Attacks (2018).