An examination of many aspects of French society in the late 1980s. It looks at a series of key and often controversial issues related to this critical period of contemporary French history - privatization, unemployment, immigration, education and international terrorism.France - March 1986; Jacques Chirac - the road to Matignon; Cohabitation - an inevitable confrontation?; A nation terrorised; Problems of society - two case studies; Education in turmoil; The battle against unemployment; The economy - a difficult recovery; Privatization - rolling back the French state; Regional development - revised thinking; 1988 - a further turning point.