That is a shorthand way of asking how deeply rebellion is embedded in the country’s character. But the question is worth exploring as dramatic images emerge from Paris and other parts of France of protesters being detained at the Place de la Bastille and storming Marseille’s city hall, and placards bearing defiant messages such as Si nous brûlons, vous brûlerez avec nous — “If we burn, you will burn with us”. What began as student protests demanding better schooling conditions has broadened into a wider expression of public discontent fuelled by the rising cost of living, inflation and austerity measures by a centralised state.

From the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, to the upheavals of May 1968 and the more recent Yellow Vests movement ( mouvement des gilets jaunes ), France has acquired a reputation as a land of protest.…