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What are the ways in which the universal, inclusive conception of French nationalism was tested by a (racially-conceived) particularistic, exclusive one?

I'm at loss, I don't know what's being asked. What does this mean?

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    Apart from its rather convoluted construction, what would make this question somewhat hard to parse is the use of the word tested to mean—well, what does it mean? It resembles challenged, an equally vague term often used in similar academic writing.
    – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
    May 30, 2011 at 22:53

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What are the ways in which the universal, inclusive conception of French nationalism was tested by a (racially-conceived) particularistic, exclusive one?

This asks in which way (or ways) one side of a thing was tested by another one (another side).

The sides of the thing are:

  • universal, inclusive
  • (racially-conceived) particularstic, exclusive

The thing tested is nationalism.

EDIT:

To rephrase:
Nationalism has sides:
a) universal and inclusive side ('good' nationalism)
b) particularistic and exclusive side (this is 'bad', racially-conceived nationalism)

In which way side a) tested side b)?
What problems for side a) side b) caused?
At which cultural points the two sides got confronted?

note: I don't know if my interpretation of sides is correct, but that should not matter for understanding the structure of the question.

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The distinction is between those who think that being French is wonderful and that everybody should want to be French, and those who think that being French is wonderful partly because certain people are not (for example immigrants from north and sub-Saharan Africa) and that such people should not be allowed to become French even if they want to.

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  • Yes, this is it.
    – Marcin
    May 30, 2011 at 21:16
  • +1, but I would say this is an example; question might be asking about other examples (and also I feel that in the example inclusive nationalism is caricatured and that exclusive one is not)
    – Unreason
    May 30, 2011 at 21:55
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I believe they are asking how people perceive French Nationalism from the viewpoint of both the supporter (of Nationalism) and from the view of a separate social group (in this case racial group).

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