Public Policy and the Public Historian: The Changing Place of Historians in Public Life in France and the UK

In 2002 the History and Policy net \York was set up in the UK in order to connect British historians with polic"makers and -inci ease the influence ol historical resuaich over current policy- At the,aine tinnt a reverse process call be observed in 171ance, vliffe since 2005 historians ha\ c been campaigning against certain uses ol history by politicians Tliis article compares the two trends, arguing that the French e\ anylc demonstrates the need to pav uS much attention to raising &vainness of history as a practice as to transmitting content, if historians aie to contribute usefully to public policy debates