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The UMP - a ‘New’ Party? Findings from Research in Two Federations

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The UMP - a ‘New’ Party? Findings from Research in Two Federations The UMP - A `New' Party? Findings from Research in Two Federations PhD Thesis of Pamela Lindsey Schmidt July 2012 Cardiff University School of European Studies Abstract This thesis examines the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) as a political party and an organisation through the examination of two party f´ed´erations: Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines. This is undertaken via a study of the groups within the UMP, as well as by developing a perspective on the history of conflict within the Centre-Right in the French Fifth Republic, retracing the formation of the UMP and conducting questionnaires and interviews with party activists in Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines. The empirical fieldwork is examined within the broad framework of the party system literature. The UMP is a party that has formed out of a variety of political currents and traditions creating an internally diverse party, and this is examined through a look at the political families in the party and the party f´ed´erations of Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines to get a view of the party at the point of time of the fieldwork. The thesis examines the party in these two f´ed´erations through the eyes of the party activists in order to understand the party at the base. This seeks to study what the party is on the ground in these f´ed´erations: what groups exist within the party (both in terms of the former parties and political currents), what sort of organisation the UMP is, how the activists relate to the organisation, as well as the relationship between the lower levels of the party and the national party. This thesis seeks to answer the question: What sort of party is the UMP as an organisation in these f´ed´erations, in regards to institutions and what the party sees as its main goals, and what role does internal diversity have within the party? i Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that helped and supported me in my work and those that have helped me over the years to achieve my goals in life, without which I could not have done this work. I would like to thank my family, especially my mother and father, Ann and Richard Carr Jr., and my grandparents, Virginia and Richard Carr Sr. and Charles Maurer. As well, I would like to remember my late grandmother, Irene Maurer, who helped to give me the courage to live abroad for the first time and make a new life here in Europe. I would also like to thank my husband Dirk Schmidt for supporting me, even with the difficulties of me being away from home, as well as his mother, Ursula, and his grandmother, Herta. Thank you to all of my friends in France, Germany, the UK and the USA, especially Mark Booth, Gareth Jones, Ken Johnson, Shelley Hough, Bob and Pat Sanborn, Laura Rush and all of those I know from my time at the Swansea University Politics Department that encouraged me to go on to do this thesis. I would also like to thank everyone at the Cardiff School of European Studies for your help and friendship, especially Sophia Chatzidi, Penny Evans, Mark Donovan, Felicia Fofie, Matthew Murray and Stephen Thornton. Thanks to the School of European Studies as well for the award of the Professor URQ Henriques Scholarship, which helped to support my studies. Je voudrais remercier aussi tous au CEVIPOF `aParis qui m'aide, particuli`ere- ment Florence Haegel, Patrick Le Gal`eset Claire Dupuy. Je remercie encore Florence Haegel pour l'aide avec la formulation de mon questionnaire. Je voudrais remercier tr`esfortement tous qui ont collabor´eaux questionnaires et aux entretiens en Hauts-de-Seine et Yvelines, particuli`erement au bureau de G´erardLarcher, `a la Permanence de F´ed´erationdes Hauts-de-Seine et `ala Permanence de Meudon, sans vos contributions, cette th`esen'existera pas. ii Appendix: Declaration and statements Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ....................................................... (candidate) Date ....................... Statement 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed ....................................................... (candidate) Date ....................... Statement 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed ....................................................... (candidate) Date ....................... Statement 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ....................................................... (candidate) Date ....................... Statement 4: Previously approved bar on access I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Graduate Development Committee. Signed ....................................................... (candidate) Date ....................... Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Political parties and party systems 23 3 Political families and the formation of the UMP 57 4 Case Study: Organisation in Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines 97 5 Case Study: Political positioning and attitudes in Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines 132 6 Case Study: Change and continuity in the UMP 169 7 Conclusion 187 Bibliography 203 Appendix 221 I Maps of location of Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines . 221 II Tables of parties discussed in thesis and timelines of parties . 223 III Result tables of questionnaires . 226 IV Sample of questionnaire . 246 iv Chapter 1 Introduction This thesis examines the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP; henceforth UMP), the principal party of the right in France. It approaches its subject through the specific perspective of the members and engages in an empirical investigation of the party organisation in two f´ed´erations, thereby renewing an older tradition in the study of French party politics. At the same time as a detailed empirical study, it addresses the broad approaches involved in the study of party politics. One such approach is the role of the previous history of the parties of the French Right: the formation of the party is understood in part in terms of its predecessor parties. This focus on historical genealogy leads us to explore the political groups that came to form the UMP, and their contribution to the organisation and the ideology of the Movement. We seek to understand what sort of party the UMP is, if indeed it is a party (rather than a Popular Movement or a coalition by another name). Is it a mere successor of the RPR or a new sort of formation? Is it a Gaullist party or more diverse than that? Is it a presidential party or not? These important questions are raised from the perspective of the party members: the core fieldwork for the thesis was conducted in the ^Ile-de-France region in 2007. The main argument is that the UMP is a party that has been shaped in part by the legacy of its historical parties and this legacy can still be seen on the ground. 1 However, the UMP is also held together by the underlying beliefs of its members, as a conservative party, as well as by instrumental electoral imperatives. The thesis maps out the ways in which the UMP is similar and dissimilar to the parties that came together at its creation. The UMP is a relatively new party, so this thesis seeks to examine whether the party had become institutionalised at this point 2007, and how it had developed since 2002. The empirical fieldwork focuses on the activists, who are the main gauge of the real existence of the party on the ground. Without active members, there would either be no party or, at least, a much weaker one. Our case study of the UMP is interesting both in terms of debates about party factionalism and plurality, and more generally as a case study of the development of processes of institutionalisation in political parties. This thesis explores what sort of party the UMP is, not just ideologically but also organisationally, looking at the institutions of the party and its operation in the f´ed´erations. The UMP is an interesting case because it is a party that emerged from pre-existing parties, some with strong ideological and organisational traditions. It is not a completely new political movement, nor did it result only from a split within an existing party. The UMP is more mature than the typical new political party because of the stability represented by its diverse organisational traditions, which offset the strong ideological tensions that have been observed. If the UMP had only brought together the various groups of the Centre-Right and completely destroyed the organisational rules and structures of the RPR, UDF, and RPF, it is unlikely that the party could have survived for any considerable length of time. This would have changed the rules of engagement, possibly allowing for some groups to be marginalised. In this the ideological differences would likely have risen to the top in the process of developing new organisational rules. This is particularly important on the local level, as it is the local base that supports the running of the party; this base is the object of our two local case studies of 2 UMP members. One of our early hypotheses was that the UMP would be more mature than most new parties because of its degree of institutional continuity with the previous parties. Our research, by and large, confirmed that the UMP is a mature, stable party in the f´ed´erations that were examined, in spite of its political diversity and newness.
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