Année universitaire 2015/2016 Collège universitaire Semestre de printemps

French Politics Understanding the stakes of French political life (1958-2016)

Vincent Martigny, PhD

Syllabus

Course description

This 12 weeks lecture in political science is dedicated to the presentation, discussion and analysis of the main stakes of French political life, with a particular focus on presidential elections. Its main objective is to enable students unfamiliar with French politics to understand and participate in the political debate during their stay in France, as well as decipher the news coverage of French politics. More precisely, this course will consist in explaining the historical institutional role and attributions of the main power figures in French politics (President of the Republic, Prime minister, leaders of the National assembly and Senate, MPs) and outline the stakes of recent and past presidential elections (1981, 2002, 2007, 2012); it will also present the main political parties, the essential actors as well as the ongoing questions of French politics, and relate them to French political history since the birth of the current Fifth Republic in 1958. How did the Left win the elections in 2012? What political situation after the 2015 Paris attacks? How to understand the rise of National Front in French politics? Can François Hollande be re-elected in 2017? These are some questions, among others, that will be answered during this lecture.

About the instructor:

Dr. Vincent Martigny is Assistant Professor in Political Science at Ecole Polytechnique and Research associate at Sciences Po-CEVIPOF. A graduate from Sciences Po (PhD, 2012), the University of Cambridge (MPhil Trinity Hall, 2001) and the LSE (MSc., 2000), his research is on contemporary French politics, and more specifically on the study of French nationalism.

Course plan

The course is divided in 12 lectures

Lecture 1: Introduction. The legacy of Gaullism and the birth of the Fifth Republic

Lecture 2: Power distribution in the French political system • How do institutions work in France? • What are the powers of the President? The Prime Minister? Parliament? • What are the mechanisms of the presidential election?

Lecture 3: State, Republic, Nation in France

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr • State and ‘Statism’ • The Republic • National identity debates (1981-2012)

Lecture 4: The Elite system in power • Political and social elites & elite groups • ENA and the issue of governance in France

Lecture 5: Party politics (1) The Left • Birth and history of the Left in France • Contemporary evolution, strategy and transformations

Lecture 6: Party politics (2) The Right • Birth and history of the Right in France • Contemporary evolution, strategy and transformations

Lecture 7: Party politics (3) Radical political forces and protest groups: The National Front • Birth and history of the extreme-Right in France • Contemporary evolution, strategy and transformations

Lecture 8: French electoral behaviour • Voting patterns • How to analyse political gaps and polarisation of French politics?

Lecture 9: Presidential elections in 1981: the Left’s dream • How and why did the Left win? • Was François Mitterrand’s election a positive sign for democracy?

Lecture 10: Presidential elections in 2002: the candidates’ nightmare • Why did Jean-Marie Le Pen reach the 2nd round of the election? • Did the 21st April reshuffle the cards of party politics? • How did the Left get over the elimination of its candidate?

Lecture 11: From 2007 to 2012: a political renewal? • A real shift in candidates? • What were the topics around which these elections revolved?

Lecture 12: France in turmoil: what political situation of the country one year before the 2017 Presidential election? • What consequences of the Paris attacks on the political scale? • Are we witnessing the emergence of a three-party system? • What are the stakes of the forthcoming 2017 presidential election?

Assessments and grades:

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr

Mid-term exam (40% of the overall grade) Take home final essay (60% of the overall grade)

Bibliography:

Michael Lewis-Beck, Richard Nadeau, Eric Bélanger, French presidential elections, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1223779 Robert Elgie, Political institutions in contemporary France, Oxford University Press, 2003 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=602483 Rod Kedward, France and the French, A Modern History, New York, Overlook, 2007. John Gaffney, Political leadership in France: from Charles de Gaulle to Nicolas Sarkozy, Basingstoke, New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1197255 J. Ardagh, France in the New Century. Portrait of a Changing Society, Penguin Books 2000 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=276498 Robert Elgie & Steven Griggs, French Politics. Debates and Controversies, New York, Routledge, 2000. http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=325284 William Safran, The French polity, Pearson Longman, cop. 2009 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1150135 Sylvain Brouard, Andrew Appleton, Amy G. Mazur (eds), The French Fifth Republic at Fifty. Beyond Stereotypes, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1163591 Alistair Cole, Patrick Le Galès, Jonah D. Levy (eds), Developments in French Politics 4, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1152526 “France's political institutions at 50” special issue in West European Politics, (2009-03) vol.32: °2, p.243-437 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=5546 David S. Bell, Parties and democracy in France: parties under presidentialism, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=303322 Anne Stevens, Government and politics of France, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=547167 Alistair Cole, Governing and governance in France, Cambridge University Press, 2008 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1154026 Nicholas Atkin, The Fifth French Republic, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=752675 Andrew Knapp, Parties and the party system in France: a disconnected democracy? Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=755647 Catherine Fieschi, Fascism, populism and the French Fifth Republic: in the shadow of democracy, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=679740 Richard Conley, From Elysian fields to the guillotine? The dynamics of presidential and prime ministerial approval in Fifth Republic France, Comparative Political Studies (2006-06) vol.39: n°5, p.570-598 http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=4239

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr