Politics in France

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Politics in France

• Political parties and political elite

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Low confidence in parties
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Multiparty system

• National Assembly election in 2002
• 79 parties presented 8,424 candidates
• 4 main parties got 68 of the votes
• 7 parties are in the National Assembly
• formed into 5 parliamentary groups
• weak party organization
• fragmentary and local orientation
• abstract and ideological style

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Single-member districts
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Main parties

• Rally for the Republic (RPR)
• Union for French Democracy (UDF)
• National Front (FN)
• Socialist Party (PS)
• French Communist Party (PCF)
• Greens

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Left parties/Right parties/FN

• Men 38 42 13
• Women 40 43 11
• 18-24 40 39 6
• 25-34 45 26 16
• 35-49 49 35 11
• 50-64 35 49 13
• 65 28 57 13

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Rally for the Republic (RPR)

• Gaullist party held both presidency and
  premiership 1958 - 1974
• transformed into RPR by Chirac in 1974
• classic conservative constituency
• older, wealthier voters
• farmers
• largest party in France (100,000 members)

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Union for French Democracy

• UDF
• Electoral alliance of various conservative and
  central groups in 1978
• cooperated with RPR since 1981
• UDF split in 1998 Liberal Democracy (DL)
• RPR, DL, and part of UDF formed UMP (Union for
  the People's Movement) in 2002

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National Front (FN)

• founded in 1972 by Le Pen
• fears of immigration, the dilution of French
  nationality and culture, and European integration
• present racist ideas with a more acceptable
  pro-family and patriotic veneer
• split in 1999

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National Front (FN)

• proportional representation rule
• Year Votes in 1st ballot Seats in Parliament
• 1986 9.9 35
• reversion to single-member district rule
• 1988 9.8 1
• 1993 12.7 0
• 1997 15.1 1
• 2002 11.3 0

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Duvergers Law

• Plurality single-member district election rules
  tend to create two-party systems in the
  legislature
• smaller parties that receive a minority of the
  vote across many district receive little or no
  representation in Parliament
• Proportional representation electoral systems
  generate multiple party systems in the legislature

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2002 elections

• Presidential candid./ 1st ballot/ 2nd ballot
• Chirac (RPR) 19.9 82.2
• Le Pen (FN) 16.9 17.8
• Jospin (PS) 16.2
• National Assembly/ 1st ballot/ Seats
• RPR DL 33.7 357
• PS 24.1 140
• FN 11.3 0

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Parties on the left

• Socialist Party (PS)
• support from
• the salaried middle classes
• professionals
• civil service
• teaching profession
• Mitterrands Presidency (1981 - 1995)
• classical socialist ideology was dismantled

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Parties on the left

• French Communist Party (PCF)
• ceased to be a revolutionary party
• electorally dominant on the left until 1978
• cooperation with PS

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Interest groups

• Connections with political parties
• ideological roots and commitments
• weak organizational connections with parties
• relatively small membership base
• 1/10 of workers, 1/2 of farmers, 3/4 of large
  industrial enterprises
• ideological division of representation
• radicalism in action and announced objectives

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Economic policy

• Gaullists thirty glorious years
• nationalization of firms
• General Planning Commission
• state intervention
• decline since 1973
• privatization and nationalization of firms
• unemployment rate over 10 since 1986
• burden of the welfare state

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Welfare state
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Elite recruitment

• Grandes écoles
• ENA National School of Administration
• graduates dominate
• key branches of civil service
• key positions in politics
• top business executives

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Political class

• Political elite - decision makers
• Parliament members
• elected local government officials
• local party leaders
• journalists of national renown
• no more than 15 to 20 thousand people

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Iron triangle

• Top civil servants
• in National Assembly
• training and recruitment grounds for top
  positions in both politics and industry
• Effort at opening up the narrow elite recruitment
  process since 1980s
• new admissions procedures
• top bureaucrats impact national government