The French presidency benefits from a unique window of opportunity to demonstrate that if no country questions the principles of free market within the Union, it cannot be done at the expense of the political dimension of the defense of common interests. Whether Europe follows the tracks of economic liberalism or chooses a more political option, it now belongs to France to show that these two dimensions are compatible. After all, were they not at the heart of the political message of Sarkozy when he was presidential candidate one year ago? This widened presidency gives him the opportunity to reaffirm the reality of his ambition… at the European scale.

Whether it has a mini or a normal treaty, Europe is setting off again – thanks to the voluntarist impetus of the French President. The major liberalism trend that has dominated the last 20 years seems to temporarily stop: negotiations at the WTO are at a standstill and further widening of the Union is out of the question. This presidency clearly shows that there are at least five key issues at stake: immigration, energy, environment, agriculture, and defense. Should be considered also, all the other issues that fuel exchanges between governments and public services – among which one should count the reflections on the future of the politics of cohesion and common institutions – and that are lead by France. The French presidency will most probably implement the notion of « deepening » by showing that on such crucial issues agreements may be found.

These are some of the issues that the following papers tackle..."

Jean-Marie Bouissou created the Manga Network (Réseau Manga) in 2006 to build a linkage between researchers and Phd students interested in the subject, in various locations and at various levels:
- Manga and its evolution, related to changes in society, in the economical and political system of post-war Japan;
- The role of mangas and more generally of Japanese popular culture in the current cultural globalization process and the ways it is being accepted or not (a questionnaire is available on the website for this purpose);
- The analysis of imaginaries of mangas, from post-apocalyptical to shôjo manga (teenage mangas) and from “scientific experience” to mecha (combat robots), notably in the scope of the misadventures of the Japanese contemporary memory and of the modernization of the value system;
- Specificities of the “manga language”, whether text or graphics, in a comparative logic…

This network of about 50 participants covers 11 countries. The network aims at organizing conferences and making researchers interact, but it also seeks to favour the dissemination of research results by publishing online the work of its participants and other papers that could be sent.

Since its founding, the network has been supported by The Japan Foundation.