'Very poor communicators: Macron & his govt fail to address 'genuine concerns of the French people'

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Dr Joseph Downing, Senior Lecturer International Relations and Politics at Aston University. French unrest raises questions about political accountability, police exhaustion and the increasingly confrontational relationship between citizens and the state. Downing argues that France must reassess how the state exercises authority and responds to both violent unrest and legitimate social movements. And he draws attention to France's centralised policing culture, its revolutionary traditions and the wider threat of Russian information warfare.