In France serious intellects standing well outside the anti-Gaullist Left, such as Raymond Aron, pointed out the flaws by pragmatic arguments. On demographic calculations alone, Aron reckoned that within twenty-five years an integrated Algeria 18 million strong would swamp a metropolitan France of 48 million, politically if not numerically. Acting as a bloc, the seventy-five Muslim deputies which it would be Algeria's right to send to the Palais Bourbon could provide a balance of power to whichever side of the Assembly they wished, thus preventing it from functioning normally. Integration would also slow down, if not halt, any rise in the French standard of living, and he concluded, "An Algerian France, if it pretends to regenerate France by governing it, will irremediably tear asunder the nation."

QUESTION: Did these demographic projections prove accurate, and how did they shape French opposition to integration?

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 943