Anne-Laure Zwilling

Figures concerning the numbers of Muslims in France are very difficult to provide.

the 1960s. The second generation, being born in France, are French citizens, but a reform of the nationality laws in 1992 delayed the granting of French nationality until it was applied for in adulthood (where previously it was automatically granted).

According to the 2005 data from the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies 16 , unemployment among people of French origin was then 9.2%, while for those of foreign backgrounds the rate was 14% (statistics adjusted to take account of educational qualifications). Furthermore, there was a 5% overall unemployment rate for graduates of French origin, but 26.5% of university graduates of Northern African origins were unemployed. All this has led to growing dissatisfaction among second and third generation Muslims. [START_REF] Lopez | L'insertion des jeunes sur le marché du travail : le poids des origines socioculturelles[END_REF] Muslims account for an estimated 50% of the population of detainees in France (some jails in the region of Paris and Marseille reach up to 80 percent) [START_REF] Beckford | Muslims in Prison, Challenge and Change in Britain and France[END_REF] According to a CSA survey in 2006, 88% of people claiming to be Muslims fast during Ramadan; 43% pray five times a day; 20% read the Qur'an at least once a week; 17% go to the mosque at least once a week, and 8% at least once a month.

. seems to be on the increase: a different survey published in 2009 by IFOP shows that attendance to the mosque in on the increase: 23% of Muslims claimed to attend the mosque regularly, compared with 16% in 1989; 70% said they observed fast during Ramadan, compared with 60% in 1989; and 6% had performed the pilgrimage to the Mecca, compared with 4% in 1989. [START_REF]Enquête sur l'implantation et l'évolution de l'Islam de France[END_REF] 16 And 70% observe fast during Ramadan (60% in 1994, but 70% already in 2001).

Religious practice, however, remains more a concern for older generation: 28% of young people (18-24 years old) claim to pray once a day, 35% of the 40-50 years old, and 64% of over 55 years old. Also, when 41% of men over 55 years old attend the mosque on Fridays, they are only 23% of 18-25 years old.

According to a survey of the Interior Ministry, more than a thousand men are currently working as imams in France 21 . Only 9% of them are French. 40% are Morroccans, 24% Algerians, 13% Turks, 5% are Tunisians, the others being from various origins (Africa, the Middle-East… ). [START_REF] Mondot | Imams de France[END_REF]

Islam and the state

The main religious regime in France is the separation between religion and the state.

It is defined by the law of 9 December 1905, 23 which stipulates that the French Republic "guarantees freedom of conscience" and "the free exercise of religion". Nevertheless, the State "does not recognise, pay a wage to or subsidize any religious denomination". This law did not establish any kind of religious status or regime, but does provide for support mechanisms such as the possibility of creating religious associations, tax exemptions, chaplaincies in the army, financial support for the maintenance of places of worship. 24 The main challenge is that seats on the Council are granted according to the ground area of each mosque, which benefits affluent groups and is therefore not viewed as very democratic.

The Muslims in cemeteries, while avoiding any physical separation of the allocated space.

However, it is not up to the mayor to establish the religion of the deceased; only the will of the deceased or his family can be taken into account. Therefore, a mayor could not oppose a Christian asking to be buried in a Muslim section of the cemetery, for instance. This is a problem for the Muslim community in France, though it suits families of mixed religious belongings.

37 Master recherche "Sciences et droit des religions", spécialité "islamologie : religion, droit et société", Faculté de droits, sciences économiques et gestion de l'Université de Strasbourg http://masterislamo.mineurel.info/, last access 6 January 2010. One can only be buried in a Muslim square if one has lived or died in the commune where it is located. Therefore, for 85% of Muslims who die in France, the corpse is sent back to their country of origin for burial. This practice is often encouraged by Arabic countries, such as Tunisia, who financially takes in charge of the repatriation of its citizens.

Three Muslim cemeteries exist in

'Chaplaincy' in state institutions

The French law codes of education and health and the penal code permit the provision of chaplains. These people mostly work on a voluntary basis and have no real legal status. The CFCM has nominated head chaplains for hospitals, schools and prisons, but this remains an Halal food is nowadays commonly found in supermarkets. Specialist shops also exist and halal business seems to work well (the market maybe represents over 3 billion euros ).

Muslim association, however, often point out that, because there is no legal definition of halal, swindle is quite common. Some claim, for instance, that over 90% of the meat sold under the halal label is not the result of ritual slaughter .

As in most European countries, exceptions for ritual slaughter have been made to the Rural Law Code, and the state has given official consent for this to the Paris Mosque (1994) and

Lyon and Evry (1995). The local authorities usually try to facilitate the organisation of halal slaughter. Private associations such as A Votre Service (AVS, www.halal-avs.com) make sure that halal processes are properly monitored and provide information concerning halal food.

The UOIF has set up in 2007 a service of control and certification of halal food, "Halal Services".

http://www.cofat.terre.defense.gouv.fr/PJ/Documents/VotreEspace/Savoirvivre/references/decret_disci pline_generale_militaire.pdf, last access 5 February 2009.

shows that some 59% of Muslims buy halal meat (the number reaches 71% for migrants of the first generation, while younger people are only 47%). 49% of consumers clair to "buy more halal food than a few years ago".

The head scarf issue suddenly emerged in the public arena during the 1980s with the Article 1 of the law states: "The wearing of symbols and apparel by which a student conspicuously expresses religious affiliation in public schools is prohibited. The rules of procedure provide for conciliatory dialogue before disciplinary action is taken against an offending student." This decision was followed by extensive debate as to its interpretation and application, but passions have nowadays settled. Another report was issued in 2004, on the manifestations of religious affiliation in schools. 40 New regulations concerning photos used for passports and national identity cards required that the head must appear without any kind of cover, decoration or scarf; there are no exceptions. There were some protests, arguing that a woman wearing a veil should not appear without it, even on a photo, but this did not really lead to an intense public debate. France 2 shall schedule religious programmes devoted to the main religions practised in France on Sunday mornings. Said programmes shall be produced under the responsibility of the representatives of said religions and be presented in the form of the live transmission of cultural ceremonies or religious comments.

The company shall bear the costs of production within the limit of a maximum amount set in the annual provisions of the terms of reference.

A 30-minute programme on Islam, Connaître l'islam (Knowing Islam) (France 2, 7

Esplanade Henri de France, 75907 Paris cedex 15), is broadcast every Sunday. A very large number of Muslim television channels are accessible by satellite.

A number of print publications concerning Islam have existed in France for some time: La Médina, Hawwa-Magazine, Réflexions-Reflets de l'Islam en France, Colombus, Actualis (UOIF), Sézame, Islam de France. They all closed down for financial reasons. One could have thought the future was in electronic publications, but a blog such as Hanut-ulmuslim closed after less than a year of existence.

Family law

The French legal system is an entirely secular one, and religious affiliation is not relevant in legal matters. However, jurisprudence does sometimes take into account questions of religious affiliation and practice (in matters such as holidays for religious festivals, for example). In 2005, the French government raised the legal age of marriage for girls to 18 (it had been 15 for nearly 200 years). This was to counter the practice of arranged marriage. http://www.marseille.fr/sitevdm/jsp/site/Portal.jsp?page_id=689) is an interesting local initiative. All the leaders of the diferent religious groups of the city of Marseille have come together in this committee, providing the mayor with a structure allowing dialogue with all religions at once. Officially, there are no tensions between the religious communities in France. Difficulties certainly exist at the local level, but the official motto seems to be for all to "live together in peace and dialogue".

The Palestinian conflict, nevertheless, did raise some tensions between Jews and Muslims. All religious national leaders, however, including the Grand Rabbi of France (Gilles Berheim), took part in the supper organised by the CFCM for the end of Ramadan together with the President of the Bishops' Conference Monseigneur André Vingt-Trois and the president of the Fédération protestante de France, Reverend Claude Baty.

Public opinion and debate

Public opinion has mostly focused on the question of religious symbols, specifically clothing. For example, the Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l'Égalité (High Authority against Discrimination and for Equality -HALDE), recently had to deal with questions of wearing the burka, and of some pupils' parents wearing a headscarf when taking part in school outings. Issues related to gender always lead to discussion (special opening hours in swimming pools for women or men only, for example). The question of religious practice regarding food is also an issue, especially in schools, but the debate is not very intense. However, signs tension between Muslims and non Muslims are noticeable. In a 2007 poll, 57% of French people said they would rather "not have a Muslim as neighbour". [START_REF] Borooah | Love thy neighbour: how much bigotry is there in western countries ?[END_REF] Very recently, the debate on the building of minarets in Switzerland has set fire to some passions in France. Several surveys were issued [START_REF]IFOP survey on the French and building minarets in France, les Français et la construction des mosquées et des minarets en France[END_REF] Given that Islam is very much connected to immigration, Muslims in France face some difficulties , mostly showing that French are divided on the question, 46% opposing construction of mosques and 40% accepting them, while

14% do not answer. The tensions are seemingly on the increase, 19% of people only saying that mosques are to be built if the Muslim community asks for them, while 33% were of this opinion in 1989; during the same time, opposants were 38% in 1989, 31% in 1994, 22% in 2001 but are 41% in 2009. [START_REF]Le vécu des attitudes intolérantes ou discriminatoires par les personnes immigrées et issues de l'immigration[END_REF] . Social and educational inequalities remain for young people originated from Northern or Sub-saharan Africa, and their level of unemployment is high [START_REF] Arnaud | L'insertion des jeunes d'origine maghrébine en France. Des différences plus marquées dans l'accès à l'emploi qu'en matière salariale[END_REF] -higher even for immigrants who do not acquire French nationality. 49 The Swiss debate on minarets generated some ripples in France. Minarets raise more passions than mosques: 46% would agree to ban their construction, while only 41% are against the building of a mosque. 50 The UOIF organises an annual meeting of French Muslims (Rencontre Annuelle des Musulmans de France). The 26 th meeting took place in April 2009 in Le Bourget and gathered around 150,000 people. Some 115,000 people participated in 2008.

In Marseille, the Muslim community organises regularly a festival, l'Aïd dans la Cité ('Id in the city) just before 'Id. The 6 th meeting will take place in November 2009 and will propose concerts, art exhibitions, conferences, theatre, and many other cultural or artistic events 51 .

51 http://www.ufm13.org/accueil.html, last access 12 November 2009.

  21 HAUT CONSEIL À L'INTÉGRATION, L'islam dans la République, 2000, These were to be granted to churches and religions that requested them. Because of their previous legal status as "recognised religions", Catholic dioceses and, to a lesser extent, Protestants and Jews, automatically enjoyed the advantages provided for in this law. This regime does not apply in the Rhine and Moselle departments (Alsace and Moselle), which were part of Germany in 1905, and in which recognised denominations are organised within the framework of public law and financed by the State and the towns. Non-recognised religious groups are organised within the framework of private law. Local law also applies to the organisation of religion in the overseas territories and one of the overseas departments 25 In March 2005, the Fondation pour les OEuvres de l'Islam de France (Foundation for the Works of Islam in France) was established to be responsible for collecting all donations and distributing funds for the construction and renovation of places of worship and to support the training of imams, as well as for financing the CFCM. . Two official reports provide information on the legal situation of Islam in France. One specifically concerns the French Muslims and was issued in 2000 26 . The second one is a full report issued in 2006 by the Ministry of Interior, providing up to date information on the relation between religious groups and the authorities in France 27 . Islamic finance (banking products and services compatible with the Qur'anic prescriptions) is nowadays gaining importance in France, and an official report was issued in 2008 on this question by the Commission of Finances

  France (the oldest is in Bobigny, close to Paris; its construction was allowed because it has initially been built for the French-Muslim hospital of Bobigny. It has become a public cemetery only in 1996). Around 70 Muslim sections in cemeteries have, nevertheless, been opened in major cities such as Montpellier and Marseille. 25 of them are located around Paris. An agreement has been signed in October 2009 for the building of a public-run cemetery in Strasbourg, by the Mayor of Strasbourg (Roland Ries), the president of the CNCM (Mohammed Moussaoui), and the president of the Conseil régional du culte musulman d'Alsace (Driss Ayachour). The cemetery is to open in 2010.

  internal recognition. Chaplaincy has a legal status only in the army. Since March 2005, a Muslim head chaplain has been appointed by the Minister of Defence, along with the three existing head chaplains (Catholic, Protestant and Jewish). The head chaplains nominate and manage the military chaplains of their own religious groups. Religious festivals or feasts are never organised by the state. Muslim religious holidays are not recognised by the state. Public holidays, given the historical importance of Catholicism in France, follow the Christian calendar (Easter, Christmas, etc.). Official departments and agencies, state schools and employers nevertheless grant leave of absence to Muslims who wish to attend religious ceremonies on occasions such as 'Id al-Adha, 'Id al-Fitr and Mawlid, and the Discipline générale militaire (internal regulations of the army) now accepts to grant leave of absence for such religious feasts 38 10 Halal food .

  increased use -or at least increased visibility -of different types of head coverings worn by young Muslim girls in public places. Because of some local difficulties, the French President set up an investigative committee known as the Commission Stasi in July 2003. This Commission released a report on 11 December 2003, stating that wearing conspicuous religious symbols violated the secular principle of the French school system. On this basis, the law on secularism and religious symbols in state schools was passed in February 2004.

  [START_REF] Arthuis | Rapport d'information fait au nom de la Commission des finances, du contrôle budgétaire et des comptes économiques de la nation sur la finance islamique[END_REF]

3 Main Muslim organisations .

  An "Institut français de finance islamique" was created in December 2009, in partnership with the Islamic Bank of Development. However, Islamic financial products are still not allowed in France, and the Conseil constitutionnel has banned a law destined to authorise sukuks in France (14 October 2009), several deputies believe that such a law is not compatible with the principles of laïcité.Muslim groups and associations are organised according to the law of associations(1901) and a large number of Muslim associations are therefore registered. The majority of them are small and only of local interest, but a few associations are of national importance. The The Conseil Français du Culte Musulman (French Council of the Muslim Religion, (CFCM, www.cfcm.tv) was founded in 2002 at the request of the French authorities as a body whose aim is to represent Muslims to the government and communicate the views of the state to Muslims. It has concerns regarding issues such as the construction of mosques, sections for Muslim burial in cemeteries, halal slaughter, nomination of chaplains and the training of imams, but it has neither real prerogatives nor any executive power. It was set up to represents Islam on a national level and is recognised by the French government, 31

	Union des Organisations Islamiques de France (UOIF, www.uoif-online.com), often said to
	have links with the Muslim Brotherhood, aims at bringing together all French Muslims, but
	many of the main Muslim organisations in France reflect countries of origin: Algerian Islam
	is represented by the Grande Mosquée de Paris (GMP, www.mosquee-de-paris.org), and the
	Fédération Nationale des Musulmans de France (FNMF) is the organisation of Moroccan
	Islam. After an internal dispute, the FNMF split in 2007 and a second organisation of
	Moroccan Islam, the Rassemblement des Musulmans de France (RMF), was then created.
	Turks are grouped in the Comité de Coordination des Musulmans Turcs de France
	(CCFTF), Millî Gôrüs is also represented 29	. The Fédération française des associations
	islamiques d'Afrique, des Comores et des Antilles (FFAIACA), created in 1989, brings
	together Muslims of Africa and Antilles. The group "Foi et pratique", created in 1972, (Faith
	and practice,	http://www.foietpratique.org/	) is the French Jama'a at-tabligh. There are also
	substantial numbers of Sufi orders in France, including groups such as the Murid tariqas 30	or
	www.naqshbandi.fr the Tijiyana from Senegal and Mali, the Naqshbandis ( , mostly Turkish)
	and the 'Alawiyya tariqa, which is of Algerian origin.
	One can also find several youth associations, the main one being Jeunes Musulmans de
	France (Young Muslims of France, www.jmf.asso.fr), founded in July 1993 with the
	support of the UOIF. The French Muslim Scouts group (Scouts musulmans de France),
	created in 1991, have been integrated in the official association Scoutisme français in 1994.
	29 CIMG FRANCE -Communauté Islamique du Milli Gorus de France www.cimgfrance.com, last
	access 15/12/2009. 30 http://touba-aix-marseille.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=48, last
	access 08/01/2010.

  There were around 2,150 places of Muslim worship in France in 2006, about twenty of which can accommodate more than 1,000 people33 . There are also some twenty mosques with minarets, the eldest being the Grande Mosquée de Paris. Some 120 buildings are dedicated solely to Muslim practice and activities, but most are not, being either private houses or sometimes former factories and the like, often a simple garage, that are used for worship.When private schools do have a contract with the state, they can receive public funding to cover up to a tenth of their costs, and possible official recognition of their curriculum and diplomas. They then have to comply with the Code of Education, ArticleThe content of religious instruction is left to the discretion of the relevant religious authorities. In reality, however, Christianity and Judaism are almost always the only possibilities, although the Archbishop of Strasbourg stressed in an interview with the Christian journal La Croix (12 December 2003), the necessity of allowing Islam to be taught in public schools along with the two other major religions. Muslim school with a contract with the state has existed since 1990 in La Réunion (French overseas department). On 10 March 2008, the Muslim private school Éducation et Savoir opened its doors in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne, Paris suburban region), the private lycée Averroes opened in Lille in 2006, the Al Kindi lycée opened near Lyon in 2007. for imams opened in September 2008 in the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at the Institut Catholique de Paris, a private Catholic faculty. It is a Diplôme Universitaire course, meaning a two-year study programme at higher education level, with the course title: Interculturalité, Laïcité et Religions (Interculturalism, Secularism and Religions).

	school in France: 35
	Three private Muslim secondary schools (receiving no public funding) have opened in
	Private schools without contract receive no financial assistance from the state and
	France in the recent years: Aubervilliers (called La Réussite (success), it is nowadays
	they are free to organise as they wish (law Debré of 31 December 1959; code of education L Although the Grande Mosquée de Paris is sending its imams there for further training, not all
	encoutnering important financial difficulties), Lille (2003), and Lyon (2008). A private
	442). Muslim institutions find this situation acceptable. A Masters in Law and Religious Studies
	with a specialisation in Islamic studies has started at the Faculty of Law of the University of
	Strasbourg, in September 2009 37	. This is the first degree programme in Islamic studies to be
	offered in a state university in France.
	7 Burial and cemeteries
	6 Higher and professional education
	5. Children's education
	Muslim higher education and imam training is currently organised in France only by private
	State education, which in France means all public schools, does not include the teaching of
	institutions: l'Institut Français des Etudes et Sciences Islamiques (Ile de France,
	Islam. This is because the French school system, with the principle of separation, does not
	www.ifesi.fr); l'Institut Avicenne des Sciences Humaines (Lille, www.avicenne.eu); and
	allow any religious instruction in state schools. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of
	l'Institut Européen des Sciences Humaines (close to Nevers, www.iesh.fr). A specific

last elections took place in 2008, when 43 delegates elected Mohammed Moussaoui, vice-president of the Rassemblement des Musulmans de France, as president of the CFCM. He decided to re-organise the CFCM in order to provide a better representation of all the different groups. Out of 17 members, 3 are RMF, 2 CCMTF, 2 UOIF, 2 GMP (fédération de la Grande Mosquée de Paris), 1 FFAIACA (Fédération des associations islamiques d'Afrique, des Comores et des Antilles), 1 "Foi et Pratique" group, 1 FNMF (Fédération nationale des musulmans de France) et 5 represent the important mosques. The FNMF, however, refused the offered position. but its real capacity to represent French Muslims has often been questioned by Muslims themselves.

Some tensions exist between different confesional trends: media reported in May 2009 a conflict between the vice-président of the CFCM and the general secretary of the FFAIACA. 32 31 See the report of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Muslim faith in France, September 2007, available at http://www.ambafrance-pk.org/france_pakistan/IMG/pdf/muslim_faith.pdf, last access 12 November 2009.

32

See "Le CFCM excuse Hortefeux et se déchire en coulisse", Claire Chartier, l'Express, 15 September 2009, http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/religion/le-cfcm-excuse-hortefeux-et-sedechire-en-coulisse_786846.html (last access 12 November 2009).

34

Cultural centres, which can also host meetings and worship, are also to be built. It is impossible for the State, due to the law of laïcité, to fund the construction. These projects rest mainly on the involvement of the members of the community. Help can sometimes be obtained by generous donors from other countries. However, some financial mechanisms do exist, allowing for instance, the local authorities to provide very low rental fees for instance, or reduce the taxes. Religious groups sometimes manage to benefit from these structures.

The number of building projects is on the increase and important mosques are being built in Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Paris, Tours, Villeneuve d'Ascq for instance. The mosque in Créteil, which can accommodate 2,000 people, was inaugurated in December 2008. The mosque in Gennevilliers opened its doors for Ramadan (August 2009); it can host 2,500 people and is now the biggest mosque in the Paris region.

private schools without contract with the state (écoles privées hors contrat), private schools with a contract with the state (écoles privées sous contrat d'association avec l'Etat), public school (écoles publiques).

L141-3 and Article R442-36, which states that religious education can be given either outside normal hours of schooling, or else as the first or last hour(s) of teaching of the day.

Religious education must remain optional, and the school cannot discriminate about which students it accepts. Nearly all these private schools (90%) are Catholic schools. The same rules apply to primary and secondary education. Chaplaincies can be created at secondary level (collèges and lycées), but not in primary schools.

In Alsace and Moselle, where the legal status of religions is different, state primary schools and secondary and technical education establishments are secular, but all must include religious instruction in their curriculum. Students' parents can have their children exempted from these classes upon request and, in primary schools, such pupils must classes in ethics.

35

For more detail, see Peiser, Gustave, "Ecole publique, Ecole privée et Laïcité en France", Cemoti, no.19 -Laïcité(s) en France et en Turquie, available at http://cemoti.revues.org/document1699.html, last access 12 November 2009.

Muslim children often attend Christian private schools to receive religious instruction, and some of these schools allow Muslim teachers for their Muslim pupils. In 2006, 317,000 pupils attended private schools for kindergarten, 565,000 at primary level, 655,000 in the first years of secondary school (collège) and 410,000 in the second part of secondary school (lycée).

36

Outside school, Muslim religious education in France is delivered in mosque associations and is therefore very much connected to the country of origin. 36 See the budget of the Ministry of National Education, available at http://www.performancepublique.gouv.fr/farandole/2007/pap/html/DBGPGMPRESPGMACTPGM139.htm, last access 12 November 2009.

programme Cemeteries, in France (except for the exception of Alsace-Moselle), are lay spaces: the Law of November 14, 1881 forbids the mayors to create in a cemetery separate spaces limited by a wall or a hedge, in order to group tombs according to religious belonging. Circulars issued by the Ministry of the Interior (November 25, 1975; February 14, 1991; and February 19, 2008), recommended, nevertheless, that prefects and mayors should reserve specific areas for

  Obin, Jean-Pierre, "Les signes et manifestations d'appartenance religieuse dans les établissements scolaires", Rapport au ministre de l'éducation nationale, 2004, juin 2004 (2004-115) ftp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/edutel/syst/igen/rapports/rapport_obin.pdf, last access 12 November 2009.In 2008 and 2009, after the head scarf, the veil (burka or niqab) became the object of public debate. An investigative committee on the wearing of the veil in France was set up in June 200841 . The French Senate issued in September 2009 a report on "le port de la burqa

	dans les lieux publics" 42	. The Ministry of Interior tried to estimate the number of women
	wearing a burka; two information notes give the numbers 367 (Direction centrale du
	renseignement intérieur) and 2000 (Sous-direction de l'information générale).
	12 Publication and media
	The broadcasting of religious programmes on public television stations is covered by the
	law on the freedom of communication No. 86-1067 of 30 September 1986, article 56:

39 http://www.ifop.com/media/poll/1045-1-study_file.pdf, last access 05 February 2009.

40

  June 2009, the Conference of French imams was officially set up. Its president is the imam of Drancy, Hassan Chalghoumi. This group brings together some 40 imams of the region of Paris, and promotes interreligious dialogue and "an open Islam".Many initiatives of religious dialogue exist, of national or local interest. There are far too many to provide a list here. On the national level, one can for instance name the Islamo-

	In Christian research group (http://www.gric.asso.fr), or the journal Chemins de dialogue (paths
	of dialogue) 44

Chantal Brunel, a right-wing deputy (UMP -Union pour un Movement Populaire), proposed a law against polygamy in June 2004, 43

14. Interreligous relations

and the issue regularly arises in public debate. This question will certainly have to be dealt with when Mayotte, which recognises polygamy since Muslim family law applies there, eventually will become a French department (this is scheduled for 2011).

43

. http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/propositions/pion1645.asp, last access 12 November 2009. 44 http://istr-marseille.cef.fr/pages/chemins-de-dialogue.htm, last access 15 January 2010.

Curtit, Françoise, Messner, Francis, Droit des religions en France et en Europe : Recueil de textes, éditions Bruylant, 2008.

Haut Conseil à l'intégration, L'islam dans la République, 2000, http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/rapports-publics/014000017/index.shtml (access 12 November 2009).

Mission d'information sur la pratique du port du voile intégral sur le territoire national, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/dossiers/voile_integral.asp, last access 12 November 2009.

Wearing the burka in public spaces, http://www.senat.fr/lc/lc201/lc201.pdf, last access 12 November 2009.

340C6D4F/bst/hs.xsl/85217_85220.htm?suchrubrik, for instance (last access 12 November 2009).


Luc Pons
email: luc.pons@irit.fr

Carole Bernon
email: carole.bernon@irit.fr

A Multi-Agent System for Autonomous Control of Game Parameters

Control of game parameters to reach domainrelated objectives cannot be easily handled with classic control theory approaches. Given the dynamics and complexity of modern game engines, diversity of human players and their constantly changing nature, this paper advocates for means to tune game parameters in real time, with no use of game or users models. The proposed approach, based on a multi-agent system, is used to control two dynamic systems before analyzing the results.

I. INTRODUCTION

In recent years, video games engines have become more and more complex. They can now aggregate many different concepts, as well as many rules defining what the game-play consists in, and what are the tasks players have to perform. Mechanisms and concepts of game engines are parametrized, and an important part of the designer's job is to get from the game-play idea to actual parameter values. The increasing amount of possibilities offered by game engines makes it difficult to properly implement a game that will match ideas of designers [START_REF] Schell | The Art of Game Design -A book of Lenses[END_REF].

Additionally, the ability of a game to adapt autonomously to players becomes a requirement. This is especially true in games having a more serious aspect, such as military training or professional education, where the experience should constantly match players' skills and abilities to be optimally efficient [START_REF] Csikszentmihalyi | Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience[END_REF], [START_REF] Vygotsky | Zone of Proximal Development[END_REF], [START_REF] Chen | Flow in Games (and everything else)[END_REF]. Automated parameter adjustment is a candidate solution for answering these points [START_REF] Hunicke | AI for Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Games[END_REF]. In the field of control, proportionalintegral-derivative (PID) controllers have been used with success to determine appropriate policies on system inputs to match objectives on their outputs [START_REF] Astrom | PID Controllers : Theory, Design, and Tuning[END_REF]. However, PID controllers generally connect one input to one output in a linear fashion, making them inefficient in the control of more complex systems.

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has then been proposed to deal with non-linear systems, incorporating time delays, and high order dynamics. A model of the system to be controlled is needed in order to anticipate the modification to apply on the control policy. However there are several major challenges to overcome before offering a satisfactory solution. Video games, just like simulations, can present a high degree of complexity. With many autonomous interacting entities, as well as time-delayed interactions and multi-objective tasks for players to perform, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to predict the consequences of an arbitrary change in the parameters, and thus, to create an appropriate model. In such cases, another possible approach is to use the knowledge of domain experts to build an appropriate control policy. Expert systems consist of a rule base, that associates actions with specific situations, as well as mechanisms observing the current state of the controlled system [START_REF] Moore | Process Control using the G2 Real-Time Expert System[END_REF]. Conveniently, this approach does not necessitate a model of the controlled system, nor a deep understanding of its inner dynamics. Various improvements have been made over the years, such as the addition of fuzzy predicates in the rule base [START_REF] Lee | Fuzzy Logic in Control Systems: Fuzzy Logic Controller -Part I[END_REF]. This however requires a complete knowledge of the repairing actions when the system does not satisfy objectives. Such knowledge is generally not available in complex interactive systems like games, especially since a human is constantly interacting with the game.

Interaction makes controlling the game engine even more difficult. Human beings and conditions they are in cannot be efficiently modeled, and what seems difficult for someone may be simple for someone else [START_REF] Koster | A Theory of Fun for Game Design[END_REF]. Modification of parameters' values can have distinct consequences depending on which human is interacting with the game. Besides, humans are by nature changing, and when they learn something new, a new strategy must be adopted in order to efficiently control the parameters of the game engine.

Moreover, the inner dynamics of video games change over time and an observed property of the game system may not remain true at some other point in time.

Other artificial intelligence techniques have been used to overcome these limitations. Neural networks have been advocated when no model of the controlled system is available, and when no efficient control policy is known in advance.

Neural networks (NN) can approximate any non linear system, given that they receive appropriate training feedback. When controlling a system S with an input I, its output can be given to a neural network. The network can then be trained to find the previously given input I. In other words, the NN is trained to find the inverse model of S [START_REF] Hagan | Neural Networks for Control[END_REF], [START_REF] Nrgaard | Neural Networks for Modelling and Control of Dynamic Systems: A Practitioner's Handbook[END_REF]. Another possibility is to train the NN to find a predictive model of the control system. But whatever the use of the NN, a training phase with appropriate data is always needed. Data need to be available in a sufficient quantity, and should be representative enough so the NN can generalize to novel situations. Given the diversity of human players, such data may not be available and the cost of setting up a training phase for the NN may prevent one from applying this technique for controlling game engines.

From these considerations, we advocate the need for a system able to control parameters of a game in a real-time and autonomous fashion, without making use of a model of the game being controlled, nor of users playing the game.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The concepts used are first defined before detailing why and how the control system is designed as a self-organizing multi-agent system. Sections IV and V then apply the proposed control on two different kinds of application: a prey-predator system and a video game. Finally, an analysis concludes the paper.

II. PROBLEM DEFINITION

In order to apply a control policy on input parameters of systems like video games, the parameters manipulated by this control system, as well as the objectives that need to be satisfied, have to be defined first. This section also describes the terminology used throughout the paper, as well as the concepts that need to be understood by any domain expert wishing to apply the approach.

A. Parameters and Measures

When building a parameter adaptation system, the first step consists in identifying all the parameters it is possible to adjust. Each of these parameters needs to be uniquely identified and associated with a range defining the values allowed for this specific parameter. The set of all manipulable parameters IN constitutes the input of the system to be controlled; it is defined as follows:

IN = {p 1 , ..., p m }; p i ∈ [p i min , p i max ] ⊂ R
Parameter adjustment aims at influencing the state of the game engine in certain directions. In addition to the input parameters previously defined, such a state is characterized by observations. Observations can either be emerging properties of the game engine, or they can result from interactions between human players and the game engine. In either case, they cannot be directly inferred from the values of the input parameters. Moreover, some games may have some stochastic aspects, making observations mandatory to determine their current state. Each atomic observation of the game must be identified and associated with a range. The set of these observable values is defined as the output set OUT as follows:

OUT = {o 1 , ..., o n }; o i ∈ [o i min , o i max ]

B. Objectives and Constraints

The objective of the control system then needs to be defined. Objectives of game designers are often multiple and contradictory. Instead of defining a general state of the game as an objective, several independent objectives are here considered, each one related to an atomic observation of the game engine.

Human requirements on artificial systems can be hard to express. Humans often have a general idea of their expectations that cannot be easily expressed in a numerical form, more suitable for an intelligent control system. Solutions with fuzzy predicates have been proposed [START_REF] Ross | Fuzzy Logic with Engineering Applications[END_REF]. Fuzzy predicates allow the definition of properties that are not necessarily true or false, but can take instead any intermediate value.

This paper proposes the use of similar mechanisms. An objective involving a specific measure on the game engine should not be necessarily satisfied or unsatisfied. For that purpose, satisfaction functions are introduced. A satisfaction function takes the value of an output, and yields a satisfaction value, arbitrarily chosen within the [0, 100] interval, 100 being the state of complete objective satisfaction.

Depending on the "shape" of the function, an objective can be strict, with a high satisfaction only on a single value, or it can be loose, with a satisfaction slowly decreasing as the value strays from the objective.

The set of all objectives OBJ is defined as follows:

OBJ = {ob j 1 , ..., ob j n }; ob j i : [o i min , o i max ] → [0, 100]
In addition to the objectives to be satisfied, a control system should consider a set of constraints on the inputs. Each input has a range of validity for its value, but there can be some additional constraints, reflecting specific requirements from the domain. In this paper, constraints on input parameters are expressed similarly to objectives, that is, with the use of satisfaction functions.

For each input parameter, a satisfaction function can be defined, mapping all possible values to a degree of satisfaction. The set of all constraints CONS is defined as follows:

CONS = {cons 1 , ..., cons m }; cons i : [p i min , p i max ] → [0, 100]
The aim of the parameter adjustment is to find the values of IN that maximize all the time the satisfaction of both OBJ and CONS. In other words, it is to tune all the parameters so all the constraints and objectives are satisfied.

C. Correlations between Parameters

To dynamically control the target system, designers of the game engine have to express the knowledge they possess about its dynamics. More precisely, they are asked to list the correlations that may exist between input parameters and output measures. A correlation is defined between an input I and an output O if a variation of I is likely to trigger a variation of O. A correlation is said to be positive if an increase (resp. decrease) of I is likely to trigger an increase (resp. decrease) of O; otherwise, it is said negative. This definition only considers monotonic correlations. Depending on the game engine, there may be non-monotonic correlations between outputs and inputs. In such cases, these non-monotonic correlations are neglected, and the approach is solely based on identified monotonic correlations. The implications of this choice are discussed in more details in section VI.

III. SOLUTION DESIGN

The control system proposed here is based on a Multi-Agent System (MAS) which aims at dynamically tuning all the parameters' values of the system controlled.

An agent is an autonomous entity which evolves in an environment from which it has only a local and incomplete perception. An agent possesses skills that enable it to carry on a behavior which is generally dictated by a local objective.

A Multi-Agent System is a system composed of a set of interacting agents [START_REF] Wooldridge | An Introduction to Multi-Agent Systems[END_REF]. Two levels can then be distinguished: the lower level -or agent level -involving agents taken individually, and the global level, where the MAS is considered as a whole, a collective. The behavior of this collective is generally something more than the individual behaviors. Thanks to its logical distribution, a MAS can deal with problems composed of a large number of interacting sub-problems and allows a simpler modeling of the domain. Furthermore, interactions between agents can give birth to emergent phenomena (e.g., patterns, organizations, behaviors) at the global level which make MAS interesting for dealing with problems for which no algorithmic solutions can be given in advance and therefore have to be designed in a bottom-up way.

This property of emergence is used here since we consider the control of a dynamic and open system as a complex problem for which no specific solution exists yet. The control system presented in this paper is therefore based on Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems (or AMAS [START_REF] Capera | The AMAS Theory for Complex Problem Solving Based on Self-organizing Cooperative Agents[END_REF]) in which selforganization principles are used [START_REF]Selforganising Software[END_REF] to make the collective behavior emerge from local ones. The engine of this selforganization is the ability an agent has to always try and help the agent it considers as being the least satisfied in the system (which maybe itself in some cases); in this sense, agents in an AMAS are said to have a "cooperative attitude". This section presents the agents involved in the control system, their interactions and how they deal with time delays that have to be taken into account during the control process.

A. Agent Design

The relevant concepts identified in section II which represent both the nature of entities composing the system, on an abstract level, and the raw knowledge on its dynamics are mapped onto several agents:

• Input-agents represent the input parameters of the target system p i ∈ IN. An input-agent is aware of the bounds {p i min , p i max } of the parameter it is modeling, and possesses the ability to effectively change its value.

• Output-agents represent the outputs of the target system o i ∈ OUT , i.e. single observations of the interactions of a human user with the interactive system. An output-agent is given means to update its value while the system activity is taking place.

• Objective-agents are finally introduced to represent requirements expressed by domain experts, i.e. the set of objectives OBJ, expressed with satisfaction functions. The expression of the global solution of the global problem (i.e. an appropriate control) is here distributed among all the objective-agents. Therefore, one agent expresses a single requirement, involving only a small part of the target system, regardless of the state of the rest of it.

To solve the problem in a distributed fashion, not only agents need to have appropriate behaviors, but they also need to have appropriate communication skills. For that purpose, all agents can make use of a message mechanism, allowing them to send messages to agents they are aware of. Next section details how agents behave.

B. Solving Process Principle

In the design of the global function of a multi-agent system, the focus is being set on isolated parts of the problem. Situations in which agents are going to be are considered, and an appropriate behavior is designed so a simpler problem is solved among a few selected agents. The solving process is then distributed among all the agents modeling the problem. Therefore, one key aspect of the proposed solution is the definition of the agent behaviors, described hereafter.

1) Objective-agents:

Objective-agents are the ones that trigger the activity in the whole system. Their responsibility is to compute a satisfaction value for either an input or an output of the target system (represented by an output-agent, called "relative" agent hereafter). An objective-agent has a rather simple behavior: it observes its "relative" agent and uses its own satisfaction function to compute a satisfaction value.

Its goal is to reach a state in which an optimal satisfaction value is computed. To do so, it sends a message to its "relative" agent, requesting this latter to modify its own value in a proper way; this message contains only the current satisfaction value of the sender and the requested variation sign (either positive or negative).

2) Output-agents: Output-agents monitor the value of the outputs of the target system. An output-agent may receive one or several requests from objective-agents. When several requests are received, it adopts a cooperative attitude by tending to help the least satisfied agent it is aware of. Therefore it selects the request with the lowest satisfaction value, and aims at helping its sender.

Since an output-agent has no control on its value, it cannot modify it freely and it uses the information about the domain that experts expressed through a set of correlations (see section II-C) for selecting all the agents it is correlated to. According to the sign of their correlation, it sends them a message and therefore propagates the need for help of the initial request sender.

3) Input-agents: Input-agents are at the bottom of the chain and act when they receive a request from other agents. An input-agent uses received requests to determine which is the least satisfied agent among all the requests senders, and in which way its own value should be modified.

Being cooperative, an input-agent modifies its value in order to help the agent it believes to be the least satisfied. For efficiently exploring the potential search space for this value, an input-agent uses a component named Adaptive Value Tracker (AVT) [START_REF] Lemouzy | Principles and Properties of a MAS Learning Algorithm: a Comparison with Standard Learning Algorithms Applied to Implicit Feedback Assessment[END_REF].

C. Delayed Perception Management

One major problem in the application of this solving process among agents, is the potential delay in the effects of parameter modification. When an agent R receives a request from an agent S, it may act accordingly, in order to help the request sender, but the consequences of the action of agent R may not be directly perceived, resulting in agent S keeping on sending requests to R even though appropriate actions have already been taken. This may result in oscillations around the optimal value.

In order to prevent the delay problem, we suggest that each agent R receiving a request builds a representation of its sender S composed of:

• an optimal value O • a delay value ∆, representing the time needed for consequences of the action of R to be perceived by S.

This representation is constantly updated as new requests are sent, and may not reflect the reality. It is just used to enhance the behavior of requests receivers by making them independant of the delays between each other.

The representation of the optimal value O and the delay ∆ allow the input agent to prevent oscillations. The two next sections detail how ∆ is used, and how it is measured.

1) Delay utilization to find the optimal value: When a receiver R receives a request r1 from a sender S, it first examines the expected variation sign v1 contained in the request: either positive or negative (positive in the case of figure 1). According to v1, O is increased/decreased to a new value (dotted line on figure 1).

The agent value (solid line in figure 1) is then modified in the next time steps towards O. When R's actual value reaches O, a timer is triggered. The reason for this is that if the value O is correct, and if the delay ∆ is correct, then once the value O is reached, a contradictory request should be received after the delay ∆. Therefore, once the timer is triggered, all requests coming from S with an expected variation equals to v1 are ignored, as they are supposed to be caused by some delay.

Once the delay has expired, if requests containing v1 are still received (rn in figure 1), then the optimal value O is updated again, and the process is repeated.

2) Delay measurement: Before agents are stabilized, they alternate between increasing and decreasing phases, since their perceptions may not be appropriate right away. When an agent R is in an increasing phase, its value goes up, and it reaches a maximum m1 at some point t max in time, before the decision process triggers a decreasing phase (see figure 2). m1 is considered to be the worst value of the increasing phase since all the agent knows is that it has gone too high.

In the decreasing phase, requests are received with a negative expected variation. These requests may, or may not be taken into account, as described in III-C1. Even though the agent is decreasing its value, the satisfaction level contained in the received requests may not be decreasing, due to the delay in the sender perceptions. At some point t c max in time, a request with a minimal satisfaction is received. A link is then Therefore, the delay ∆ is obtained with the formula t c maxt max (see figure 2).

IV. APPLICATION ON A PREY-PREDATOR SYSTEM

The prey-predator system is an interesting test-bed for the proposed approach. It consists of a dynamical non-linear system modeled by two differential equations, known as the Lotka-Volterra equations. The equations model the evolution of two populations evolving in a common environment: preys and predators. Predators need to consume preys to survive, and preys spontaneously reproduce. The Lotka-Volterra model involves four parameters:

• α : preys reproduction rate

• β : preys death rate due to predators • δ : predators death rate in absence of preys

• γ : predators reproduction rate according to consumed preys

The population evolution is given by these two equations:

dx(t) dt = x(t)(α -β y(t)) dy(t) dt = -y(t)(δ -γx(t))
where x(t) is the prey population at time t and y(t) is the predator population at time t.

The description of the system enables us to determine correlations between observables (populations) and parameters (death and reproduction rates) which are given in table I where + means a positive correlation andmeans a negative one. This correlation matrix is a good example of how correlations do not consider side effects. The predator population is positively correlated to the predator reproduction rate, even though a high reproduction rate may lead to a sudden increase in population, and consequently, to prey extinction, and thus, to predator extinction. Such side effects are deliberately neglected, and only direct correlations are listed in the matrix.

The populations are initially set to 10 prey and 10 predator. The aim of the multi-agent system is to dynamically tune the parameters in order so satisfy objectives of both populations: 150 preys and 50 predators. As seen in figure 3, this control first allows both populations to grow. When the number of predators reaches its objective, the population is stabilized and oscillates around 50, while the quantity of preys continues to grow. When the prey population reaches its objective, it stops growing and oscillates around 150. Before step 4000, the model is stable and both objectives are satisfied.

V. APPLICATION ON A VIDEO-GAME

In order to demonstrate that this approach also allows to dynamically control actual interactive systems like video games, which usually nowadays often consist in over a hundred parameters to tune, we have applied it on a tower-defense game named ASD -Tower Defense (www.asd-td.com). This typical tower defense game consists of a set of two-dimensional maps, that computer-controlled entities seek to cross. The goal of the player is to place autonomous defenses to prevent entities from crossing the map. Many parameters are involved in this type of game (see table II). There are three types of entities (A, B and C), each having a speed and robustness and each can be released at different paces. Three types of defenses exist (D, E, F) and each has a frequency, a range and a strength. No universal parameter combination can be found to fit the needs and abilities of all players, since humans can exhibit different strategies and behaviors, as well as different learning paces. Domain-related measures are identified as objectives to be reached by any player. For the sake of clarity, only one objective is used in the experiment presented: the percentage of computer-controlled entities that a player has successfully prevented from crossing the map; in other words, the score.

The objective arbitrarily set on the score expresses that each wave should end with an average ratio of 0.75 entities destroyed by the player defenses. Between each wave, the player increases the amount of defenses on the map. The control system is then in charge of restoring the satisfaction of the objective by adjusting the relevant parameters. Figure 4 shows the evolution of the score in real time, as the game is played during four waves. Each update of the score corresponds to one step within the control system, and to one modification of relevant parameters.

At the beginning of the game, the player places a set of defenses on the map. When the first wave starts, the game is too easy, as shown on the chart: the score is 1, and therefore, the satisfaction is 0. The parameters are adjusted by the MAS, and consequently, the score starts to decrease, to the point, around step 25, where it is below the objective. The tuning of the parameters continues, and the score finally reaches its objective by the end of the first wave.

Before the beginning of the second wave, the player adds more defenses on the map. Consequently, the score at the beginning of the second wave is too high. Parameters are modified by the MAS, and the objective is satisfied by the end of the second wave. A similar dynamics is observed in the third wave.

On the other hand, before the beginning of the third wave, a large quantity of defenses is removed. Consequently, a reversed dynamics is observed: the score starts with a low value, and parameters are adjusted to make the game easier this time. The score increases during the most part of the wave, to reach 0.7 by the end.

VI. CONCLUSION

The two experiments presented before show that the proposed approach is able to tune parameters of dynamical systems in order to reach numerical objectives. The objectives reach various satisfaction levels depending on their nature. Deterministic systems, such as the prey-predator model (see section IV), can reach high levels of satisfaction and stability. By contrast, highly stochastic systems, specially because of the involvement of a human being, present a lot a variations over time. However, the real-time aspect of the control system allows quick compensations of sudden changes on the game engine measurements, as shown in section V when the player strategy changes between the waves. Few information is needed to apply the approach on a given system. Correlations between inputs and outputs of the target systems should be listed by domain experts, but this does not imply that an exhaustive understanding of the system dynamics is necessary. Listed correlations only describe obvious and direct consequences of parameter modifications on certain outputs. They are not supposed to model potential side effects of parameters' modification, as these should be handled by the agent interactions. For instance in the prey-predator example, an increase of the birth rate of predators may lead to a diminishing of the prey population (and eventually to the extinction of both populations), but this is not mentioned in the correlation list, as it is an indirect correlation. The control system is still able to deal with these dynamics, and to properly adjust parameters to maintain the satisfaction of the population objectives.

The described concepts are general enough to be applied on a wide variety of systems, as they only rely on the identification of numerical objectives and parameters. The use of satisfaction functions of objectives and constraints allows designers and domain experts to express their requirements with ease since no technical knowledge is required.

Depending on the nature of the system one is trying to control, there may be non-monotonic correlations. The system described in this paper is based on the identification of monotonic correlations. Though we argue that in the field of games, when considering only direct correlations, most of them are identified as monotonic, there is still room for improvement: a current work focuses on means to autonomously determine the correlations between inputs and outputs. Provided that these correlations could be identified in a reasonably short time, there would be no need for a domain expert to list them. Moreover, learned correlations could be used to tune the parameters regardless of their monotonic aspect.

Fig. 1 .Fig. 2 .

 12 Fig. 1. Delay utilization from the request receiver point of view

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. Evolution of populations through time

Fig. 4 .

 4 Fig. 4. Evolution of the score during the game session.

TABLE I

 I

	.	CORRELATIONS BETWEEN OBSERVABLES AND PARAMETERS
			Prey Population	Pred. Population
		α	+
		β	+
		δ	-
		γ	+

TABLE II .

 II

				Score
		A	Speed	-
			Robustness	-
	Entity Type	B	Speed	-
			Robustness	-
		C	Speed	-
			Robustness	-
			Range	+
		D	Effectiveness	+
			Frequency	+
			Range	+
	Defense Type	E	Effectiveness	+
			Frequency	+
			Range	+
		F	Effectiveness	+
			Frequency	+
			Quantity of A	-
	Wave		Quantity of B	-
	Characteristics		Quantity of C	-
			Spawning Frequency	-