B.A. thesis (2002), International Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract: Food provides a microcosm, which, upon examination, reveals important trends about the responses to globalization in France. One of the most visible of these responses was the August 1999 protest led by José Bové, a French sheep farmer belonging to the Confédération Paysanne, a union of small farmers. Following the US decision to heavily tax Roquefort cheese because of a trade dispute with the European Union, Bové and the Confédération Paysanne dismantled the construction site of a McDonald’s restaurant being built in the southern French town of Millau. Their action put Bové, a longtime activist, in the international spotlight and made him a hero to many among the French, for a number of varied and sometimes contradictory reasons.