In a tribune for Le Monde, historian François-Xavier Petit argues that France's public discourse remains anchored in 1945, while the world has radically changed with the Anthropocene. He contends that the first defeat of this era is not climate change itself, but our inability to rethink a happy life beyond outdated modernization paradigms.
France's political debate over the past thirty years has focused almost exclusively on pensions and debt, according to historian François-Xavier Petit. These themes trace back to 1945, the era of establishing social security, welfare protections, and social mobility, amid economic growth and faith in inevitable progress, disregarding planetary boundaries.
Pay-as-you-go pensions and public debt were wagers on a brighter future, drawing from the National Council of the Resistance (CNR). Yet in 2025, with eyes on 2050, socio-economic systems and public discourse remain locked in this post-war framework, rendering the 1945 legacy archaic in the face of the Anthropocene.
French politics yearns for a return to growth or debates preserving or dismantling social gains, always referencing the CNR model. Petit calls this an "endless 1945" in a bygone century. The Anthropocene has shifted views of the future: from promise to dystopia, with fears including Donald Trump's return, ongoing wars, and a +4 °C rise by century's end. This future's pollution already seeps into the present, upending grand progressive narratives.
The historian suggests replacing the modernization imaginary with one centered on repairing lives and skills, to realign debate with our reality.
