Selection, exclusion and assimilation: the project lambert of 1931 on the reform of French immigration policy

The unemployment crisis of 1926-7 focused attention onto the question of immigration. Historians of this period have generally focused on the crisis of public policy and popular antipathies towards foreigners; more recently historians have become attuned to voices of racism. Less attention has been paid to attempts to redress the policy weaknesses through a new legislative regime on immigration. This paper reviews one such proposal, made by Charles Lambert, a deputy from the Rhone, in 1931. Instrumental in a revision of the naturalization law in 1927 to encourage the assimilation of foreigners through the acquisition of French citizenship, Lambert proposed a comprehensive statute on immigration to select “desirable” foreigners and exclude the “undesirables” to promote the assimilation of the “better” elements. The paper argues that his rationale betrays a profound fear of mounting French weakness in the face of economic and demographic decline, and grave anxieties for the future health of the French nation.

Of personalities and personae: a French victory for film producers and authors

The international medium of film poses many challenges for authors and copyright owners. So do the practices of the advertising industry. Each jurisdiction approaches these challenges differently. In a recent French decision three issues that are of interest in Australia were discussed – the copyright status of a literary or dramatic character, the use of such a persona in character merchandising, and the moral right of film directors to control the exploitation of the persona. This article examines the 2004 decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in the matter of the film “The Fifth Element”. It compares the protection offered to author and copyright owner under French law with the protection offered by Australian legislation and common law.

Finding a 'safe' place on the risk continuum: a case study of pregnancy and birthing in Lao PDR (Lao People's Democratic Republic)

This paper addresses two questions. Firstly: are the risk regimes faced, and perceived, by pregnant women in rural Lao PDR substantially different from those experienced by pregnant women in western societies? Secondly, if the Lao experiences and perceptions are different, can improvements in maternal health in Lao PDR be achieved without Laotians inheriting the risk regimes of late modernity experienced by many women in western societies? Secondary analysis is undertaken of data collected in 2005 for the evaluation of a pilot maternity waiting home in Bolikhan, Lao PDR. The results suggest significantly different risk perceptions and experiences between Lao and western communities, based on contrasting views of embodiment, identity construction and cosmologies. In the Lao rural communities studied, there is little evidence yet of 'risk society' despite the introduction of western technologies and practices to improve maternal mortality and morbidity. It is argued that 'risk society' can be avoided.

Human resource practices, unionization and the organizational efficiency of French industry

Organizational performance improves through several channels, including changes in efficiency, innovation and technological change. Most of the extant research has focused on overall performance, often measured by partial measures of productivity, with little attention given to the components of performance. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of HR practices and unionization on one important channel - organization efficiency - as measured by technical and scale efficiency. Using French industry survey data, the paper shows that HR practices do influence efficiency, but this is moderated by the existence of unions. The results show a rather complex set of associations. We find robust results that show that in France, HR practices have a positive effect on scale efficiency but this effect is dampened in the presence of unions. On their own, HRpractices have no effect on technical efficiency. However, some of the results suggest that HR practices can exert a positive influence when combined with unions.

Exchange rate exposure, foreign currency derivatives and the introduction of the euro: French evidence

We investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on exchange rate exposures for French corporations and examine the corporate use of foreign currency derivatives to hedge exchange rate exposure post-Euro. Our findings indicate that the introduction of the Euro is associated with both a reduction in the number of firms that have significant exchange rate exposure and the absolute size of exposure. Consistent with these reduced exposures, French firms use foreign currency derivatives less intensively. Furthermore, the use of foreign currency derivatives is found to be associated with lower exchange rate exposure but there is insufficient evidence that these instruments are more effective in the post-Euro environment.

Overweight and obesity in children from Shenzhen, Peoples Republic of China

We describe overweight and obesity prevalence in Shenzhen school children (2146 girls and 2428 boys) aged 7 to 12 years, Guangdong Province, China. Nineteen percent of boys and 11% of girls were overweight or obese. Boys had odds of almost 2 to 1 (1.92, 95% CI 1.62,2.27) of being overweight or obese compared to girls and children aged 9 years and over were at greater odds of being overweight or obese than those aged 7 years (p<0.05). Overweight and obesity prevalence among children from Shenzhen rivals that of children from developed nations. Current obesity levels in Shenzhen may represent future levels for urban China.

`He hath the French pox` : stigma, social value and social exclusion

Goods and resources are finite, and social forces heavily pattern their distribution. One of the principal mechanisms for shaping the distribution of resources is by regulating entitlement to community membership itself. By restricting groups' membership of community, so access to social goods and resources diminishes, which in turn has a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the excluded groups. It is argued here that community membership is determined on the basis of the perceived social value of groups and individuals and stigmatisation is the marking of individuals and groups who are 'unworthy' of social investment. Using the notion of reciprocity we show how groups may be stigmatised and socially excluded as a mechanism for protecting limited social resources from exploitation. This perspective provides an empirically testable framework for the understanding of stigma and social exclusion that goes beyond the largely descriptive work that currently populates the field. We illustrate the process of stigmatisation and social exclusion and discuss how this suggests new styles of intervention, as well as new directions for research.