"Critical Theory" is a term that over the past three decades, particularly in the United States, has come to designate a particular approach to study rather than a self-contained discipline. It entails reflection upon the premises, concepts and categories used in different disciplines such as literary studies, history, political theory and film studies, to name a few. Critical theory can therefore not be limited to a particular field or even to a specific content. It is involved wherever methods and concepts are not simply taken for granted but subjected to a critical reflection in a systematic and rigorous fashion.

Ever since the 1960's, Paris has emerged as a major center in the development of critical theory. During this period Paris has also reaffirmed its position both as a center of European intellectual and cultural life and as a meeting place for European and non-European cultures. Questions of multiculturalism and polyglottism play an increasing role in French and European life, while Paris provides a particularly rich and exciting laboratory in which problems of cultural, political and economic difference can be studied and analyzed.

While the Program is based in Paris, it also strives to foster relationships and coordinate collaborative projects between UCLA and other European institutions outside of France. In the summer of 1994, the Program co-organized with the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis a week-long conference in Amsterdam on "Violence, Identity and Self-Determination." In 1996, Program participants spent one week in Bonn, Germany, as guests of the German Civil Service Union, in order to study the German system of education within the emerging European Community. Such programs are illustrative of the type of bilateral exchanges with European scholars and students that the Paris Program is working to enhance.