"La France à toutes les sauces?" La "Stratégie France" de la Sarre dans le contexte européen. "Alles Frankreich oder was ?" Die saarländische Frankreichstrategie im europäischen Kontext

The articles in this edited collection are based on a public lecture series on the topic "'Alles Frankreich oder was?' (All about France, or what?) The Saarland France Strategy in a European Context – Interdisciplinary Approaches and Critical Perspectives," organized jointly by the France Center at Saarland University, the City of Saarbrücken and the College of Europe CEUS. They are the focus of the French Center’s 2015/16 yearbook.

The four topic areas comprise an introduction of history and politics, in the context of which the France Strategy is embedded. Earlier political positions of Saarland with regard to its French neighbor are addressed as well as the varied role of the border between the two countries.

In the second section, the implementation of the French Strategy is discussed from different scientific and political perspectives, including the educational policy conditions with regard to the question of creating a multilingual area of French-German character in schools and universities, but also the French-German university cooperation, which appears to be in need of more development, but is actually already well established in many areas.

The third thematic section deals with cross-border cooperation in the fields of work and education, health care and media in the Greater Region, i.e. with examples from the Saarland practice of French-German cooperation in various fields of action.

Finally, a critical classification of the intercultural dimension of the France Strategy is carried out, which also addresses existing weaknesses and gaps. It is complemented by an examination of the France Strategy from the perspective of the French-speaking world, which focuses on opportunities for the France strategy as it is situated in a transnational and global context.

Thus, the publication under discussion takes stock and offers a critical discussion of the "Project France Strategy" as it is presented to participants from various fields three years after its publication. The yearbook highlights the critical and independent debate of university members who, on the basis of their academic self-image, analyze and reflect on social processes in dialogue with civil society. Though it is not only the different technical disciplines that provide different points of view. The diverse political, social and content-related aspects resulting from the various fields of action also result in a multi-faceted inventory of the possible opportunities and effects, but also of the obstacles, difficulties and limits that a political program (for society as a whole), such as the France Strategy, faces.

Contents

• ANNEGRET KRAMP-KARRENBAUER: Preface and Introduction
• HANS-JÜRGEN LÜSEBRINK, CLAUDIA POLZIN-HAUMANN et CHRISTOPH VATTER: All about France, or What?” The Saarland France Strategy

History and Politics

• HENRIK UNTERWEDDE: The Saarland France Strategy in the Context of Contemporary French-German Relations
• DIETMAR HÜSER: Saar Politics and French-German History on the Border. Challenges, Margins for Action, ‘France Strategies’ in Times of the League of Nations, Saarland and Early Federal State Times
• CORINE DEFRANCE et ULRICH PFEIL : Thinking and living the border in Franco-German relations
• REINER MARCOWITZ : A Look from the Outside: Saarland’s France Strategy from a Lorraine Perspective

Implementation – Perspectives from Academics and Politics

• CLAUDIA POLZIN-HAUMANN: France Strategy and Education Policy. An Inventory and Perspectives from the Point of View of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching/Learning Research
• ROMANA WEIERSHAUSEN: German Studies as a New Way to France: From ‘National Philology’ to an Intercultural Study Practice and its Potential as a Gateway to France and a Bridge to Germany (Abstract)
• ALBERT RAASCH, WILFRIED SCHMIDT and PETER TISCHER: Towards Multilingualism for Saarland
• PATRICIA OSTER-STIERLE: The Saarland as Testing Grounds for French-German University Cooperation

The Greater Region – Work and Training, Healthcare, Media

• WOLFGANG MEYER: Cross-Border Traffic – Perspectives of the Labor and Training Market in the Greater Region
• INES FUNK: Cross-Border Health Care in the Saarland-Lorraine Border Area: Current Status, Challenges and Potential
• CHRISTOPH VATTER: Between Marketing and Mindset. On the Role of the Media and Cross-Border Reporting in the Context of the France Strategy

On the International Context – Classification and Outlook

• HANS-JÜRGEN LÜSEBRINK: DIntercultural Dimensions and Challenges of the France Strategy in the Context of Contemporary French-German Relations (Abstract)
• SYLVERE MBONDOBARI: Francophone Africa in German-French (Saarland) Relations (Abstract