Le Débat was a bi-monthly French periodical that appeared from 1980 to 2020. Founded by Pierre Nora[1] and Marcel Gauchet, and associated with French left-wing politics,[2] it was characterised as the "single most influential intellectual periodical" of late-twentieth-century France.[3]
The first issue of Le Débat appeared on the day of the funeral of Jean-Paul Sartre. As editor, Pierre Nora announced that the review would exemplify a new, post-partisan, role for French intellectuals: free from commitment to revolutionary politics, they would concentrate on the exercise of 'reflective judgement'.[4] According to Nora, Le Débat sold between 8,000 and 15,000 copies per issue in the 1980s.[5] Past editors include Raymond Aron, Georges Dumézil, François Jacob, Michel Foucault, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, François Furet and Jacques Le Goff.[1]
In 2020, Le Débat announced in its 40th anniversary issue that it would cease publication. According to Christopher Caldwell, the magazine had fallen into disrepute with younger left-wing intellectuals, who disparaged the French tradition of egalitarianism and who rejected the criticism of U.S.-style identity politics represented in Le Débat as reactionary.[2]