The Government and Politics of France: Fifth Edition

The Government and Politics of France This fifth edition of The Government and Politics of France offers a fully revised, updated and comprehensive view of the contemporary French political scene based on the work of the leading specialist on France of his generation. It covers such events as the dramatic presidential election of 2002 and includes a major new chapter on France and European integration, culminating in the historic rejection of the European constitutional treaty by French voters in May 2005. Although particular attention is paid to the most recent period, the book covers the whole of the Fifth Republic in depth, from its heroic beginnings under de Gaulle to the period of reverses and defeats sustained by successive governments under the Mitter- rand and Chirac presidencies. The contemporary period is placed firmly in the context of those long-standing political traditions which have maintained their power to shape French political behaviour to this day. The long view supplied in this book allows a unique understanding of how the dynamic, confident economic and political power of the early de Gaulle years has become the more hesitant and troubled nation of the early twenty-first century – and of the points of continuity that underlie this development. The Government and Politics of France is the authoritative guide to French politics and is essential for undergraduates and postgraduates with interests in French politics, European studies and political science. Andrew Knapp is Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History at the Uni- versity of Reading. He is author of Parties and the Party System in France (2004), Le Gaullisme après de Gaulle (1996), and, with Yves Mény, Government and Politics in Western Europe (third edition, 1998). The late Vincent Wright was Official Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, and one of the world’s leading specialists on French and European Government. The Government and Politics of France Fifth edition Andrew Knapp and Vincent Wright First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 Andrew Knapp & Vincent Wright This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. 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 A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN10: 0–415–35733–0 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–35732–2 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–40260–X (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–35733–3 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–35732–6 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–40260–3 (ebk) To the memory of Vincent Wright Contents List of figures and maps xv List of tables xvi Preface to the fifth edition xvii Preface to the fourth edition xviii 1 French political traditions in a changing context 1 A legacy of conflict 1 The régime 2 The Church 4 The politics of class 6 Le parti du mouvement et le parti de l’ordre 8 Nationalisms 10 State traditions 14 The common core 14 Liberty, equality, fraternity 16 Dirigisme 18 The state: image and reality 22 The changing context of French political traditions 24 Post-war boom: the trente glorieuses 24 Globalisation 27 Europe 29 Political conflict and the state: transformations 31 Zones of consensus 31 The dismantling of dirigisme 33 The state tradition: challenges from within 35 Redefining political conflict 37 The survival of traditions 40 The state tradition 40 Patterns of political conflict 44 Concluding remarks 46 Further reading 47 viii Contents 2 From Fourth to Fifth Republic 49 Ultimately, a failure: the Fourth Republic (1946–58) 49 The Gaullist agenda 51 Between Washington and Westminster 53 Readings of the Fifth Republic 59 The republican monarchy 59 A ‘parliamentary régime’ 61 The Constitutional Council and the État de droit 63 The constitution in flux 64 Further reading 66 3 Presidents and prime ministers: the personal factor 67 Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) 67 Georges Pompidou (1908–74) 68 Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1926–) 70 François Mitterrand (1916–96) 73 Jacques Chirac (1932–) 76 Prime ministers 80 Concluding remarks 83 Further reading 84 4 The sources of executive power 85 Constitutional resources 85 Prime minister and government 85 The president 87 Administrative resources 91 The Matignon machine 91 The Élysée 93 President and prime minister: political resources 95 Concluding remarks 108 Further reading 108 5 Executive policy-making: the variable diarchy 109 Presidential government 109 Presidential control of the government 110 Processes of presidential policy-making 111 Domains of presidential policy-making 112 Presidential policy-making: limitations and models 118 Contents ix Cohabitation: prime ministerial government? 121 Cohabitation and party politics 121 Cohabitation: oiling the wheels 122 Cohabitation: patronage and policy-making 123 Models of cohabitation 127 Ministers and government 129 The role of ministers under the Fifth Republic 129 The variable nature of ministerial power 131 Institutionalised tensions and the elusive goal of co-ordination 134 Further reading 140 6 The French parliament: decline – and resurgence? 141 The constitutional assault upon parliament: the provisions 142 The separation of powers 143 Restrictions on parliamentary sessions 143 The limitation on parliament’s law-making powers 144 The passage of government business 145 A less accountable executive 147 The Constitutional Council as anti-parliamentary watchdog 149 The decline of parliament: factors unconstitutional and extra-constitutional 149 An overbearing executive 149 Le fait majoritaire 152 Parliament’s lack of resources 153 Absenteeism and impotence 154 A resurgent parliament? 155 The survival of the Senate 155 Parliament’s institutional reinforcement since 1974 157 The loosening of parliamentary discipline 161 Obstructions, amendments and private members’ bills 162 Concluding remarks 164 Further reading 166 7 The Left and the Greens: the dilemma of government 168 The divided Left 171 The Parti Communiste Français (PCF) 177 The Fifth Republic and the decline of the PCF 177 The PCF’s mutation: too little, too late? 183 x Contents The Parti Socialiste (PS) 186 Alliances 188 Factions 191 Leadership 193 Members and elites 195 Ideology and policies 196 Money 199 Electoral support 199 The far Left 202 Citoyens et Radicaux 205 The ecology groupings 207 Concluding remarks 210 Further reading 214 8 The Right: domination and division 216 The Gaullists 217 The search for identity: 1958–62 218 Growth, consolidation and hegemony: 1962–73 218 The loss of power: 1973–76 221 Organisational renovation, electoral and strategic impasse: 1976–81 222 Chirac’s two defeats: 1981–88 223 Disarray and victory: 1988–95 223 Victory and disarray: 1995–2000 224 The non-Gaullist moderate Right (NGMR) 227 Conflict, co-operation and the UMP 232 Other right-wing groups 236 The extreme Right: permanence and isolation of the Front National 239 The far Right’s lasting breakthrough 240 The FN in the French political system 244 Concluding remarks 247 Further reading 250 9 Transformations of the party system: continuity and change 252 Party configurations, 1956–2005 253 The transitional phase, 1958–62 254 Gaullist ‘dominance’, 1962–74 255 The ‘bipolar quadrille’, 1974–81 255 Socialist ‘dominance’, 1981–86 256 The challenge to ‘parties of government’, 1986–97 256 Full circle? 1997–present 257 Contents xi Bipolar multipartism 259 Bipolarity: characteristics 259 Multipartism: characteristics 261 Institutional dynamics 262 Social developments, new issues and voting behaviour 267 Personal and party strategies 274 Concluding remarks 276 Further reading 279 10 The administration: foundations, myth and changing reality 281 The foundations and myth of administrative power 282 The French state at high tide: the Fifth Republic to 1986 284 The bases of administrative power 285 An omnipotent administration? 289 The administration transformed? 295 New pressures 296 A shrinking state 298 The administration and the limits to change 301 Concluding remarks 308 Further reading 310 11 The state and the pressure groups 312 The domination-crisis model 315 The domination-crisis model: evidence in favour 316 The domination-crisis model: objections 320 The endemic and open conflict model 322 The endemic and open conflict model: evidence in favour 322 The endemic and open conflict model: objections 328 The corporatist and concerted politics models 330 Corporatism: evidence in favour 331 Corporatism: objections 333 The pluralist model 334 Pluralism: evidence in favour 335 Pluralism: objections 337 An untidy reality 337 Mixed models 338 Determinants of group influence 339 Concluding remarks 345 Further reading 347 xii Contents 12 Paris and the provinces: the post-Jacobin state 349 The institutions and the actors 351 Representative assemblies and their executives 353 The prefectoral authorities 354 The local field services 356 Other local bodies 357 Jacobinism

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