Filippova E.I. Three days that shook France

Abstract: The article explores the events of January 7-11, 2015 in France: the terrorist attack on the editorial board of the weekly, “Charlie Hebdo”, the killing of police officers, taking of hostages, as well as the mass manifestations known as the Republican march. The methods of analysis of this "outlier case", i.e. extreme, atypical, deviant situation, examined in this article, reveal hidden social processes and phenomena, as well as offer some explanations as to the reasons of those events. The study is based on a variety of sources such as eyewitness accounts, French mass media, photo- and video materials, official statements, public statistics, and results of mass surveys conducted by various French sociological organizations, as well as qualitative data collected by the author in France in the period from 2004 to 2014.The methodological basis of the study constitute a systemic, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative political, geopolitical, cultural and civilizational approaches, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, observation.This study rejects an opinion widespread in Russian scholarship about the religious and cultural nature of this type of conflict, it also rejects the proposed methods of solving such conflicts by tightening immigration policy and enhancing security measures. The study identifies the "risk zones": city suburbs, public schools, and prisons, which require urgent radical reforms, public attention and investment. The study warns about the real possibility of an escalation of radicalism, intolerance, xenophobia, and sympathy for the ideology of the extreme right groups. The study concludes that public safety cannot be achieved without the strengthening of civil and national unity. The mass manifestations of January 11 demonstrated the ability of French society to unite in front of the threat and challenges, and this potential should be further employed.

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