This article offers a succinct evaluation of the last fifty years of economic and institutional modernisation in Corsican society, which began in the immediate post-war period. It analyses the way clan structures and nationalist movements have dealt with this modernisation, each in their own way. Their handling of these changes has largely involved a relentless political struggle, implying their unending adaptation to an ever-changing national and international environment. There is however some evidence, at least superficially, that a mood of stagnation and desperation has prevailed, along with the parallel maintenance of clanic structures and political violence.