French Politics and Society

321 Pages·2004·9.373 MB·English

by  Alistair Cole

Cole ppr 7/10/08 8:19 PM Page 1
Alistair Cole
French Politics
and Society

Cover image:© Craig Aurness/CORBIS
second edition
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French Politics and Society
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French Politics and Society
Second edition
ALISTAIR COLE
School of European Studies, Cardiff University
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Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published 1998 by
Prentice Hall Europe
Second edition published 2005
©Alistair Cole 1998, 2005
The right of Alistair Cole to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the
publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
ISBN 0 582 47367 5
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cole, Alistair, 1959–
French politics and society / Alistair Cole. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-582-47367-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. France—Politics and government—1945– 2. France—Social conditions—1945–1995.
3. France—Social conditions—1995– I. Title.

JN2594.2.C63 2005
306.2′0944—dc22
2004050653
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
08 07 06 05 04
Typeset in 9.5/12.5pt Stone serif by 35
Printed and bound in Malaysia
The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
List of tables x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations xiv
A glossary of difficult expressions xvi
A guide to further reading xviii
Part 1 The making of modern France
1 The making of modern France 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 The ancien régime 4
1.3 The French Revolution: the making of modern France 5
1.4 The French Revolution: a divisive heritage 6

1.5 The Third Republic, 1870–1940 9
1.6 Vichy and the French Resistance, 1940–4 13
1.7 The Fourth Republic, 1944–58 14
1.8 Concluding remarks 20
2 France since 1958 23
2.1 Introduction 23
2.2 De Gaulle’s Republic 23
2.3 May ’68: the Fifth Republic in crisis 26
2.4 Georges Pompidou: the acceptable face of Gaullism? 29
2.5 Valéry Giscard d’Estaing: the aristocracy in power, 1974–81 31
2.6 François Mitterrand 1981–8: the chameleon 34
2.7 Mitterrand’s second term, 1988–95 37
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vi French politics and society
2.8 President Chirac, 1995–7: the abrupt presidency 39
2.9 Jospin and the plural left coalition 41
2.10 Chirac’s second term, 2002– 43
2.11 Concluding remarks 44
3 French political culture 45
3.1 Introduction 45
3.2 Political culture in France: the traditional reading 45
3.3 Traits of French political culture 48
3.4 The Fifth Republic and the new Republican synthesis 55
3.5 Conclusion 57
Part 2 Institutions and power
4 Presidents and Prime Ministers 61
4.1 Introduction 61
4.2 Political leadership in the French republican tradition 61
4.3 The 1958 Constitution 63
4.4 The French presidency 65
4.5 Prime ministerial political leadership 74
4.6 Concluding remarks: what type of political system is the
Fifth Republic? 78
5 Checks and balances? 81

5.1 Introduction 81
5.2 The organisation of the French parliament in the Fifth Republic 82
5.3 Parliament in the Fifth Republic: an emasculated legislature? 84
5.4 Political dynamics and the operation of parliament 87
5.5 The judicialisation of French politics? 90
5.6 Concluding remarks 96
6 The immobile state? 97
6.1 Introduction 97
6.2 The French civil service: characteristics, context and culture 97
6.3 The French state today: continuity, conflict, cohesion 103
6.4 The reform of the state 107
6.5 Concluding remarks 111
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Contents vii
7 Local and regional government 113
7.1 Introduction 113
7.2 The French model of territorial administration 113
7.3 The decentralisation reforms, 1982–3 115
7.4 Local and regional government after decentralisation 117
7.5 The French prefect and the decentralised state 127
7.6 Revisiting decentralisation: the 2003–4 reforms 129
7.7 Decentralisation in France: concluding remarks 131
Part 3 Political forces and representation
8 The French party system: change and understanding change 137
8.1 Introduction 137
8.2 The French party system before 1981 137
8.3 The changing French party system 140
8.4 Underlying continuities in the French party system 145
8.5 Concluding remarks 149
9 French parties today 151
9.1 Introduction 151
9.2 The Gaullists 151
9.3 The Union for French Democracy (UDF) 155
9.4 The Socialist Party 158

9.5 The Communist Party 162
9.6 The National Front 165
9.7 The Greens 170
9.8 The minor parties 172
9.9 Concluding remarks 173
10 The representation of interests 175
10.1 Introduction 175
10.2 The context of group activity 175
10.3 Economic interest groups 177
10.4 Groups and the French political system 184
10.5 Social movements old and new 187
10.6 Concluding remarks: a ‘French-style corporatism’? 189
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viii French politics and society
Part 4 Reshaping modern France
11 Society, citizenship and identity 195
11.1 Introduction 195
11.2 The evolution of French society: social consensus or social fracture? 195
11.3 The republican model of citizenship and its limits 200
11.4 Immigration, integration, assimilation and ethnicity: conceptual
problems and the Jacobin state 201
11.5 Language and identity in contemporary France: the case of minority
languages 206
11.6 Multiple identities in contemporary France: a case study from Brittany 209
11.7 Concluding remarks 211
12 The economy and economic governance 215
12.1 Introduction 215
12.2 The French economy 215
12.3 Dirigisme and its limits 217
12.4 From inflation to European integration 222
12.5 Changing policy fashions: the case of industrial privatisations 226
12.6 Concluding remarks 229
13 Europe and Europeanisation 231
13.1 Introduction 231
13.2 France and the European Union 231
13.3 Quelle finalité europé enne? The French vision of Europe 237
13.4 France and Europeanisation 241
13.5 Concluding remarks 250
14 Reinventing French politics and society 253
14.1 Introduction 253
14.2 Exemplarité and exceptionalism 253
14.3 French national distinctiveness 256
14.4 Political and policy change 258
14.5 Reinventing modern France 260
Bibliography 263
Appendices: Election results 283
Index 287
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List of illustrations
1. French regions and departments xii
2. Les Invalides: burial place of Napoleon 7
3. Beauborg, or the Pompidou Centre: symbol of the cultural
and architectural ambition of French Presidents and of the
significance of Paris as a capital worthy of avant garde
modern art 25
4. Mitterrand window shopping 30
5. President Jacques Chirac, 11 March 2004, delivers a speech
at the Sorbonne University in Paris 35
6. Prime Minister Jean Raffarin, 10 February 2004, in the
National Assembly when members voted to ban religious
clothing and symbols from French state schools 40
7. The Elysée Palace: official residence of French Presidents 62
8. The French National Assembly: seat of France’s lower chamber 83
9. The Senate: seat of France’s second chamber 89
10. Jardin du Luxembourg: in the grounds of the Senate 95
11. Hotel du Ville in Paris: the seat of France’s most influential
local council 115
12. The Bourse: the Paris Stock Exchange, symbol of France’s

economic liberalisation 219