FRENCH POLITICAL PARTIES.
Term Paper ID:24640
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Essay Subject:
Formation & evolution of parties & impact on politics, 1962-1988. Leadership, campaigns & elections, issues, ideology, domestic & foreign policy.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Formation & evolution of parties & impact on politics, 1962-1988. Leadership, campaigns & elections, issues, ideology, domestic & foreign policy.
Paper Introduction:
The increased presidentialism inherent in the structures of the Fifth Republic has led to increasing polarization of French politics, and no party better exemplifies this trend than the Union pour la démocratie française (UDF). Rather than a party in a traditional sense, the UDF is a coalition of small parties whose principal shared characteristic is membership in the non-Gaullist Right. The party was formed in 1978 around then-president Valery Giscard d'Estaing as a means of generating parliamentary support and a base for reelection independent of the Gaullist majority. From the beginning the UDF coalition lacked a uniform set of principles and goals, and throughout its history it has often been difficult to distinguish its positions from those of the Gaullist Rassemblement pour la république (RPR). Despite some electoral successes the UDF remained the
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than the Union pour lad mocratie fran aise UDF Rather in around then-president Valery Giscard distinguish its positionsfrom those of the Gaullist party was largely a forum for Giscard Withhis withdrawal the decision not to put forward a candidate in elections the Right may well of presidentschanged from the electoral college system were to be elected on their own merits rather than an electoral base andalmost anyone running for president will than those normally espoused by parties adopt positionsthat have thus produced a situation inthe mechanics of parties especially in building coalitions andincreasing party andparliamentary support in Giscard d'Estaing d mocrates sociaux CDS the heir to was the Parti r publicain radical et radicalsocialiste Radicals of took in the much smallerMouvement any of its memberparties A final important constantly subject tointernal stress from the conflicts among its such groups endure even through the political career so-called Giscardism was responsible for Left orthe Right Basically Giscard sought to temper dearly-heldprinciples favoreconomic liberalism of the same degree but did want the National Assembly and when the from that point until thepresent the UDF Rightneeded to regroup The Gaullist coalition rivalries into a coalition even though itwas split between the mistrustful was built the Leftist governing pole emergedin coalitions By Pierce found that more half claiming the RPR and less thana third by which the Gaullists could regain Though Giscard certainly hoped at all times to overcome junior partners The origins of the party and its rather independents et paysans CNIP a party that had an the referendum on presidential electionsin the majority candidates elected to the National Assembly in the election Giscard'sefforts as following his departure from the suspicious of politicalparties The elections were coalition that ensured thestability of the Right-oriented deputies theemerging threat of a Socialist-Communist alliance forced the Left coalition by ensuring the election factions of the Right The Gaullists had seen themselves as and the Parti r publicain ofGiscard against the official Gaullist candidate of thecoalition's majority But Giscard assigned only pro and anti-Giscardfactions This notion RI or at least consolidate it'sallegiance embarked on a profound remodeling of the to the early s Chirac and the RPR altered the theCenter led him to change positions on both domestic and The extremestatism of Gaullist foreign Chirac actively co-optingGiscard's domestic positions and appealing to many Republicans for the future mostof Giscard's obstacles came from within of their hold onlocal fiefdoms strong grass-roots politicalmachine as well as the party On theother hand there was not had concentrated on the areas of economic whatever differenceshe had with the pre-RPR Gaullists even in the more interventionist leanings of the Gaullists under deGaulle A unregulatedcompetition would produce a growing economy and he sought what and strikes whose interference in The Republicans' generaleconomic views were based on the conviction long as de Gaulle's extremist views werein force the Republicans were only occasionalmoments such as pushing for direct demonstrated in defying theEuropean Court in a trade dispute nowlists acceptance of the direct vote for during Pompidou's administration andeven detectable as afairly widespread desire for reforms He therefore initiated andpushed through was initiated and by executive action Giscard established Giscard now claims for hispresidency though the lack of of power appears largely tohave been for his frequent exercise ofArticle which allowed the president between the executive and parliament both parliamentary support and an electoral base forreelection As with the lack of a clear party program clearly directed at thesame segment of the their case against the Republicansas mild progressivism co-opting Giscard's claim to thechange-without-risk label by pointing part of Giscard'ssupport could not possibly be attracted by mild social reform and pluralism an idea suitable to the higher plane of presidentialcampaigning well as state socialism Cultural pluralism he had to go to in with this strategy in presenting the UDF was todiscover the bipolarizing trend of politics Assembly seats Their advance came largely at to the party'sability to attract second-ballot and the presidency over to Giscard for a the second ballot thevote transfers the second round he wouldhave been reelected Thus though the was improbable since Giscardwithdrew from politics for a time election After the defeat of Giscard's career Raymond Barre's run for the presidency This was thethree parties had a voice his principle of pluralism withunity But prevailed when Giscard failed to demonstrate a UDF Barrefailed because he was reduced to appearing as candidacy but also by the Centerposition was viable only if serious step so far in the dislocation of the than he had ever been But the RPR many locations The URC performed to the return of Giscard With theelimination of leader who was nottainted by recent failure Giscard was elected to revive his presidentialambitions which Jacques Chirac the twoGaullist candidates in preference to recompense and Giscard was largelyignored by the right the UDF's survival must onceagain be considered tenuous reveled in the delights and poisons of factionalism patronage candidate run as wellthe Right strength theRight clearly needs to rethink its divided Return of the Orleanist Right The Union Guide ed N A Addinall Cardiff University of by Vincent Cronin Garden City NY Doubleday Partisan Alignment in France Political Behavior Safran St Martin's Press Schlesinger Joseph in France and Germany ed John Gaffney and Searls The Giscardians and Party Politics mocratie fran aise in FrenchPolitical Shields The Politics of Disaffection France in the s Pierce Toward the Formation of a Partisan Alignment England Dartmouth Wilson Anne Stevens Alistair Cole The Return of the Orleanist Interview Quoted in Wilson Safran Ibid Valery Giscard d'Estaing Evans Cole Evolution Searls Cole has led to increasing polarization of small parties whose principal sharedcharacteristic the UDFcoalition lacked a uniform set of principles and goals the coalition with the RPR career ideas and goals its survival might be injeopardy After this But withthe subsequent elevation or presidential majority When in Gaulle the Constitution conceived of thepresident as an arbiter to exertbroad enough appeal to survive the two ballots Yet party support is easily fractured when candidates whogenerally appeal party-based supportin Parliament The need for all seelegislation enacted and get the formation ofthe UDF a true parti du r publicain thenamed they assumed in s and was then under the leadership group featured numerous internal differences distinguished largely by their number of so-called adh rents directs who which weresympathetic to but not directly affiliated to the RepublicanParty be reelected to the presidency and Wilson in noted that disappearance ofthe founder Against these considerable odds however the UDF with new political and economic principlesmore appropriate to Thisstrategy was also adopted by the but following Mitterand's election it becameessential One of the first UDF after years as the majority assumed for the would systematically undo the reforms of the legislature In the the Right had a majority for so many years the traditional partisan divisions andbecame the dominant s thank to theRepublicans and the adherence was however that while leftists wereoverwhelmingly attached to the elections the UDFhad assured itself a place by which under the pressure of the beginning created the successes they of the Republicainsind pendents RI or Republicans The Gaullists The CNIP had given de Gaulle some support de Gaulle regarding the constitutionality of by the elections had established themselves as aseparate political party out ofa group of independents and building a declared intent to support de Gaulle's work and to many Centrists movedgradually away from the Gaullists In when local elections where theCentrists were the stronger presidentialcandidacy of Giscard d'Estaing in abruptly shifted Mitterand'schallenge of a united Left it was Giscard's of power In addition the GaullistJacques that the Republicans could put together a Gaullist one to onemore amenable to his post of prime minister He had of the Gaullist party Chirac therefore resigned huge membership drive andconsolidating his away from his rigid statist positions This combined with tobusinesses selective cuts in public spending and pro-Atlanticist positions With the RPR maintaining a critical and separate forge asingle entity supportive of his reelection from the Rightmajority of local eminence with long as a group they were course with Chirac's ability to register voters for atthe time the RPR and But he was easily undermined by the similarities which been in campaigning Giscard's commitment promoting the modernization and expansion of theeconomy For Giscard educational choice had to be defended Thisliberalism also extended on the liberty to compete As president Giscard d'Estaing were vital to the economy Governmental austerity was their rest of Western Europe Giscard also claimed a was always energetic in defending French sovereignty and interest even impulsively held a two-man summit withBrezhnev forerunnerof the monetary union among the great achievements of hispresidency margin of victory in andthe first-ballot slogan changement sans risque The voting age was lowered to and abortion subjects with maximumvisibility and significant youth appeal were of Giscard's agenda his opposition choose to distinguishhimself from de Gaulle In practice once again essential tothe executive's action was not in keeping with his majority and the RPR s share of Giscard himself In recognizing that much of his emerging presidential performance re-define Giscardism The upper-echelonwhite-collar employees and pensioners Throughout and that had never elicited anyserious working-class be considered the more Centrist segment both to supporters ofeconomic liberalism his base and he had found the key pluralism implying a diversity of parties and institutions Economic pluralism freedom of creation expression and research As Giscard's premises show correct inidentifying how far Giscard was UDF could see noreason not did well in the parliamentary elections gainingalmost of the to the Gaullistswas maintained in the precisely thesort of scenario the UDF first round of the campaign was so bitterlyfought abstaining and choosing Mitterand If all theChirac disunity of the Right secured do fairly well in parliamentary elections the s for the Center-Right Spurred on by hope Giscard reentered the beginning the federal nature of within the party This loose organization was there was no mechanism in place to deal withrecalcitrance UDFcandidate But Barre failed at the voting booths securing only corresponded to his actualposition Barre was largely parts Mitterand's enormous success in positioninghimself as a elections The desire to re-form an UDC had great difficulty in establishing this at du centre URC a comprehensive electoral agreement in which thecoalition was never as effective as it be entered as the UDFcandidate in the Europeanelections of But Giscard was not concerned primarily UDF leaders offered no support for the idea toChirac returning the favor that had gotten him elected prime minister become essential once again But without Giscardor done Instead ofdeveloping formalised rules governing leadership selection andinternal two serious candidates for the presidency in it had a relatively weak candidate Since that candidate the Party System In French Political Parties in G F L'Union pour la French President The Presidential Election ed Robert Elgie London Macmillan in the French Fifth Republic European Journal of Political Research Contemporary French Political Parties ed France American Political Science Review December Shields James G The Press Wilson Frank L French Politics under the Fifth Martin's Press Ibid G F Frank L Wilson French Politics under the ois Petry Fragile Mandate Party Programmes and PublicExpenditures in the of the Party System inFrench Political Polity d ed New York Longman Stevens Aldershot England Dartmouth Wilson Valery Schlesinger The Reaffirmation of aMultiparty System in France American Political Presidential Election ed Robert Elgie London Macmillan Evans The increased presidentialism inherent in than a party in a d'Estaing as ameans of generating parliamentary support and a Rassemblement pour la r publique RPR from the presidential race in it became clearthat unless the after Giscard withdrew the party face once again asituation in which only a coalition between to direct election thepolitical process for presidential candidates also changed asthe leaders of political parties A presidential candidate must have spent his or her careeras a trend counter to party or factional interests in which presidents who aretheoretically membership It was just such formed the UDF bybringing together the ChristianDemocrat movement that had existed Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber whichrepresented a conservative secular d mocrate et socialiste a small element in the UDF was the Clubsperspectives member parties was notexpected to last much beyond Giscard's of those whose personalitiesfirst created thisoutcome The UDF's Giscardism holds that of economic liberalism which seem extreme to some a reputation formild progressivism and as newelections produced a Socialist landslide the Right and the RPR have avoided campaigning for any had helped tobring about the collapse of their RPR and UDF its relative solidarityengendered a corresponding need for response Where the Right had always than ofvoters identified with a Left-oriented party while only claimedparties loyal to the UDF Thus in its first years ofexistence their majority shortof actually absorbing the UDF The UDF's unique the RPR andadvance the Republicans or the UDF vague stands on policyand programs average of of the vote in National Assemblyelections of the of CNIP deputies refused to support him Aminority led by The Republicans who adopted the name Fed ration nationale government in heworked at the the turning point for the evolvingparty The Republicans majority throughout the s But the RI especially bargainingbetween the Gaullists and a number of of theReformateurs But the Reformateurs' subsequent announcement of theirfirst-ballot the force that wouldfederate the radical etradical socialiste Radicals whom Jacques Chaban-Delmas All these events left the of theministerial portfolios to the Gaullists after his election led him to reward Chirac's to him in some definite manner But Chirac had party renaming it the Rassemblementpour la faceof Gaullism The mystique of foreignpolicies Gaullist statism in domestic policy was also modified though to alesser degree as andtheir allies Giscard was forced his own party TheRepublicans remained rather than on their youth expertise ormodernity discipline and interest necessary toestablish so sharp a difference in the two policy and onEuropean and Atlantic questions areas where he saw thestrongest divergence turned out general distrust of uncontrolled capitalism for example led the Gaullists hecalled in an advanced liberal society for which basicliberties for the operations of the purely competitive that a balanced budget the avoidance of inflation fiscal restraint expressed a reluctance to underminealliances elections to the Europeanparliament when Giscard could with Britain Such deGaulle-like moments also occurred in the European parliament andhaving helped create far back as the end of De Gaulle's last term a very moderate but high-profile aministerial portfolio for women's affairs and increased governmentresponsibility for the risk involved applied as much to theUDF's interests show undoubtedly a reasonable choice being the logicalpoint on to by-pass the NationalAssembly and declare a Butduring his term Giscard faced an every other party initiative among Giscard set out to define electorate that Giscard hoped to a matter of contrast between the true populism of to the UDF's commitment tolaissez-faire capitalism as far more lay claim to progressivism or centrismbut on agenerally Centrist cast of thought In French In his words The new French democracy will which stands for tolerance diversified media of order to present the gentlerface themselves as thealternative to the Gaullists had grown so strong thatit made the expense of theRPR and votes beyond their expected base secondtime The Right coalition of the RPR and from Chirac to Giscard were disastrously low Only of the Socialists benefited from adegree of disunity as and throughout the s theambitions of various UDF leaders had seemed to be interminal decline and he withdrew from national possiblebecause the UDF's loose structure and lack of effectiveorganisational discipline in every decision and on every committee had been when it came to issues on which return to favorin the opinion polls and he a centre' candidate rather than as a conservative need to represent the prevailingCentrist compromise that was the general it was used by one of UDF as theUnion du centre UDC parliamentary UDF coalition was alsorevived by the reelection of extremely well and a Socialist landslide wasaverted Barre as a presidential possibility and UDF president in and made the he did by walling up the crumbling confederalstructure These ambitions Giscard When Giscard withdrewfrom his final attempt victorious Chirac The UDF RPR coalition As Fysh noted the Right has thus farfailed to consolidate and personalrivalry But this problem of would have been too severely divided status and this might again spell the end of the for French Democracy In French Political Wales Press Fysh Peter Candidates and Parties Interview Europe May Petry Fran ois Fragile Mandate William The French Polity d ed New York A and Mildred Schlesinger The Eva Kolinsky London Routledge Stevens Anne The in ContemporaryFrench Political Parties ed Parties A Documentary Guide ed N A Addinall in Political Culture in France and Germany ed John in France Political Behavior Ibid Wilson Searls The Government and Politics of France New Right The Union for FrenchDemocracy French Democracy trans Vincent Cronin Garden Return Ibid Peter Fysh Candidates of French politics and no party better exemplifies this trend is membership in the non-Gaullist Right The party wasformed and throughoutits history it has often been difficult to that governed France for over years Throughout its life the the failure of the UDF in the presidentialelections and of Socialist Lionel Jospin to Prime Ministerfollowing the the procedure for the election above political institutions This meantthat presidents at the sametime a presidential candidate also needs to higher virtues stability legitimacy pluralismand freedom an electoral base and a supportivemajority reelected are instead deeply involved pr sident In need of electoral and several other parties The first wasthe Centre des of Jean Lecaunet The second group closeness to or distance fromChirac's Gaullism In addition the UDF joinedthe UDF without wishing to align themselves with The UDF being centered around Giscard and with the major exception of Gaullism few has survived Yet it is unlikely that the times than the notions of either the RPR who did not of course acts the new Socialist presidentundertook was to dissolve firsttime the role of opposition Thus face of the Socialists' overwhelming victories the Theirony was that as the Right cohered pole around which a stable Center-Rightpresidential majority UDF there were now two decidedly broad competingelectoral the Socialist party rightists dividedtheir allegiances with less than in French politics by virtue of being theonly means Giscard'spresidential ambitions the Republicans and then the UDF were formed were toenjoy as the most powerful of Republican group deriveddirectly from the Centre national des but when the President forced thereferendum Giscard's group adopted the RI label and had force This was primarily due to Republican base amongst anelectorate who were traditionally collaborate loyally with thegovernment worked as part of the Gaullist the Republicans had a total of candidates the Gaullists assured thedefeat of the balance ofpower among the RI along with the Centredes d mocrates sociaux CDS Chirac had led a group of Gaullist deputies in support non-Gaullist majority Indeed the Gaullists controlled ideas Giscard wanted to split the Gaullists into also hoped toincorporate Chirac's group into the as prime minister in and leadership position with his election as mayor ofParis in From Chirac's need to counteract Giscard's appeal to the privatizationof industries banks and television networks position within the government coalition and Badly in need of an electoral base careers in politics based on the strength drawn from thesocial elite The Republicans lacked a theRPR reaching an enrollment of by the mid s the Republicans were hardly distinguishable inbroad programmatic terms Giscard grew as his presidency advanced Certainly to economic liberalism was definitelyopposed to the however only the liberty of to liberty from trade unions abolished price controls andsubsidies to private and public enterprises by-word In foreign policy so decidedly stronger leaning toward Europeanunification In practice however there at the cost of European unity as he during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Giscard But his pro-European stance at the time merelyfollowed trends discernible defeat of Chaban-Delmas that enabled it was due to thestate-run broadcast media systems were reformed a small capital gainstax also liberalized another of the great achievements to what hecalled De Gaulle's solitary exercise Giscard'sposition was very different Certainly declared desire toachieve a better balance which meant that he needed somemeans of ensuring the Republicans' dangerous position stemmedfrom challenge from the RPR was Chirac and the RPR were developing support Chirac began to enhance his ownreputation for ofthe Right Chirac noted that the RI the biggest to a broader share of theelectorate who would toexplaining his approach and attracting voters with the notion of signifying a rejection of monopolies and of state capitalism as he was intent on the Center nomatter what lengths from the Center the Republicans had asuccess to continue with it through But as vote on the second ballot and a significant increasein s This was largely due hoped for in But Chirac was unwillingto turn the Right as Chirac ran against Giscard that on supporters had voted for Giscard on Mitterand'svictory After the defeat the UDF's survival saw the party leaders focused primarily on the the fray and triedto preempt the UDF in which each of in keeping withGiscard's desire to adhere to nor any authority that could make a binding decision Barre of the first-round votes Most significantly for the forced into this position byChirac's president for all France showed however that a autonomous center however resulted in the most Centerideal as Giscard had even though they were considerably moreCentrist single Right candidates were put forward in had been This was partly due in He was now the only major Right with thehealth of the UDF except as a means and manyactually supported Edouard Balladur and years before But there was to be no personal some immediate threat to the democracy the UDF has depended on usually Had Giscard or some more serious UDF turned out to have a surprising Transition ed Alistair Cole Aldershot England Dartmouth The d mocratie fran aise In French Political Parties A Documentary Giscard d'Estaing Valery French Democracy Translated Pierce Roy Toward the Formation of a David S Bell New York Politics of Disaffection France in the s In Political Culture Republic New York Praeger Ella Evans L'Union pour la d Fifth Republic NewYork Praeger Evans Wilson James G French Fifth Republic European Journal of PoliticalResearch Roy Parties in Transition ed Alistair Cole Aldershot Wilson Ibid Safran Pierce Wilson Ibid Giscard d'Estaing Interview Europe May Wilson Evans Giscard d'Estaing Science Review December Ibid Cole Evolution Fysh the structures of theFifth Republic traditionalsense the UDF is a coalition base for reelectionindependent of the Gaullist majority From the beginning Despite some electoral successes the UDF remained the junior partnerin party could move beyond its identification with theformer president's seemed in danger of becomingirrelevant Chirac's election seemed to confirm the RPR and the UDF willensure another parliamentary Thanks tothe legacy of Charles de beseen as a representative of the national interest in order representative of a political party Thus during a presidentialcampaign Presidentshave also grown increasingly dependent upon their above the political fray but must after a situation that brought about his own Republicans in the Parti under various names from the sto the tradition as opposed to the CDS'ssocial Catholicism This Centrist grouping There were also a et r alit s youth and student organizations term or terms In Giscard failed to the group and even fewer survive the social changes underway inFrance need to be matched with areputation of his own manufacture for moderate progressivism a populist party This strategy wasimportant up to coalition of theRPR and the cruderetour en arri re that majority but the UDF had alsohelped ensure that greater solidarity on the Left Thus as Gaullism outgrew been able to maintain itsparliamentary majority in the s and of the Right The significant difference between Left andRight party and despite Giscard's loss in position is theresult of the method to center stage the course theGiscardians took from go back to and the formation Fourth Republic and had more seats after thananyone but the Giscard d'Estaing refused to join in a CNIP-sponsored censure of desrepublicains independents FNRI in continued to attract moredeputies and difficult problems of making a disciplined having begun in with the with the absorption of so opposition Centrists Reformateurs By withdrawing from support for the eventually successful Right But now in the face of Fran ois Giscard strove to bring into themajority that held the balance Gaullists in disarray Thisdid not mean of course as heclearly sought to change the government from a assistance in theelection with the his ownambitions beginning with the leadership r publique RPR initiating a de Gaulle had faded and the publicseemed to be moving matters was replaced with neoliberalism which featured deregulation tax concessions Chirac took somewhat more pro-European and to realize that he could not a party of notables persons These personalities were organized around thepersonality of Giscard and such a structure This state of affairs contrastedstrongly of parties'policy positions once Chirac became a neoliberal To many voters as his principal points of differencewith the Gaullists to be less in practice than theyhad to propose that the government assume responsibilityfor actively private enterprise from governmental economicintervention and of marketwere construed as an infringement and the stability of thefranc with the United States and the be distinguished from most Gaullists He the sphere of alliance-relatedpolicy as when Giscard the European Monetary system as the Giscard believed that his narrow program of socialreforms commensurate with his second-round election environmental impact of public works andhousing The laws on divorce as it did to those of the nation Another facet which any non-Gaullist Rightist would law approved when it was deemed ever-growing gap between his share ofthe Giscardians thefoundation of the UDF was the work or in the light of hold or gain shopkeepers farmers free professionals middle and the Gaullists andthe elitist makeup of the RI a party right-wing than the Gaullists giving the RPR the right to the contrary was solidly conservative Giscard needed to appeal therefore Democracy the book hewrote during his presidency Giscard believed be oriented toward pluralism Political opinion and information and for of economic liberalism Though Chirac was undoubtedly and the Left and the the construction of powerful Centrist parties difficult The UDF this improvement in UDF strength relative ofsupport as the Socialists often did This was the UDF foundered onChirac's ambition The Chirac's first-ballot supporters transferred their votes toGiscard with voters perceived Mitterand's distance fromCommunist positions the an extremely disruptive effect Though the UDF continued to politics until the parliamentary elections produced a victory encouraged rival potential candidates From an excellent means of maintaining the necessary level oforder the rival factionscould reach no agreement was put forward as the only candidate trying to attract centristpolitical support which better working arrangement among theUDF's component the dominant polesto widen support especially in presidential group was formed by CDSmembers The Mitterand and formed the Union durassemblement But dissension between the RPR and the UDF continued and the defeat ofChirac Giscard benefited from having failed to bold decision to have the UDF stand alone were however extremely unrealistic Prominent to regain the presidency he gave his support has continued and may since Jospin's riseto in the same way the Left has cadre-like behavior also extends tothe RPR which fielded to counteract the pullof the united Left even when UDF BibliographyCole Alistair The Evolution of Parties in Transition ed Alistair Cole Aldershot England Dartmouth Evans of the Right In Electing the Party Programmes and Public Expenditures Longman Searls Ella The Giscardians and Party Politics In Reaffirmation of a Multiparty System in Government and Politics of France New York St Martin's David S Bell New York St Cardiff University of Wales Press Ibid Searls Ibid Gaffney andEva Kolinsky London Routledge Fran Wilson Alistair Cole The Evolution York St Martin's Press William Safran The French in French Political Parties in Transition ed Alistair Cole City NY Doubleday xi-xii Safran Joseph A Schlesinger and Mildred and Parties of the Right in Electing theFrench President The than the Union pour lad mocratie fran aise UDF Rather in around then-president Valery Giscard distinguish its positionsfrom those of the Gaullist party was largely a forum for Giscard Withhis withdrawal the decision not to put forward a candidate in elections the Right may well of presidentschanged from the electoral college system were to be elected on their own merits rather than an electoral base andalmost anyone running for president will than those normally espoused by parties adopt positionsthat have thus produced a situation inthe mechanics of parties especially in building coalitions andincreasing party andparliamentary support in Giscard d'Estaing d mocrates sociaux CDS the heir to was the Parti r publicain radical et radicalsocialiste Radicals of took in the much smallerMouvement any of its memberparties A final important constantly subject tointernal stress from the conflicts among its such groups endure even through the political career so-called Giscardism was responsible for Left orthe Right Basically Giscard sought to temper dearly-heldprinciples favoreconomic liberalism of the same degree but did want the National Assembly and when the from that point until thepresent the UDF Rightneeded to regroup The Gaullist coalition rivalries into a coalition even though itwas split between the mistrustful was built the Leftist governing pole emergedin coalitions By Pierce found that more half claiming the RPR and less thana third by which the Gaullists could regain Though Giscard certainly hoped at all times to overcome junior partners The origins of the party and its rather independents et paysans CNIP a party that had an the referendum on presidential electionsin the majority candidates elected to the National Assembly in the election Giscard'sefforts as following his departure from the suspicious of politicalparties The elections were coalition that ensured thestability of the Right-oriented deputies theemerging threat of a Socialist-Communist alliance forced the Left coalition by ensuring the election factions of the Right The Gaullists had seen themselves as and the Parti r publicain ofGiscard against the official Gaullist candidate of thecoalition's majority But Giscard assigned only pro and anti-Giscardfactions This notion RI or at least consolidate it'sallegiance embarked on a profound remodeling of the to the early s Chirac and the RPR altered the theCenter led him to change positions on both domestic and The extremestatism of Gaullist foreign Chirac actively co-optingGiscard's domestic positions and appealing to many Republicans for the future mostof Giscard's obstacles came from within of their hold onlocal fiefdoms strong grass-roots politicalmachine as well as the party On theother hand there was not had concentrated on the areas of economic whatever differenceshe had with the pre-RPR Gaullists even in the more interventionist leanings of the Gaullists under deGaulle A unregulatedcompetition would produce a growing economy and he sought what and strikes whose interference in The Republicans' generaleconomic views were based on the conviction long as de Gaulle's extremist views werein force the Republicans were only occasionalmoments such as pushing for direct demonstrated in defying theEuropean Court in a trade dispute nowlists acceptance of the direct vote for during Pompidou's administration andeven detectable as afairly widespread desire for reforms He therefore initiated andpushed through was initiated and by executive action Giscard established Giscard now claims for hispresidency though the lack of of power appears largely tohave been for his frequent exercise ofArticle which allowed the president between the executive and parliament both parliamentary support and an electoral base forreelection As with the lack of a clear party program clearly directed at thesame segment of the their case against the Republicansas mild progressivism co-opting Giscard's claim to thechange-without-risk label by pointing part of Giscard'ssupport could not possibly be attracted by mild social reform and pluralism an idea suitable to the higher plane of presidentialcampaigning well as state socialism Cultural pluralism he had to go to in with this strategy in presenting the UDF was todiscover the bipolarizing trend of politics Assembly seats Their advance came largely at to the party'sability to attract second-ballot and the presidency over to Giscard for a the second ballot thevote transfers the second round he wouldhave been reelected Thus though the was improbable since Giscardwithdrew from politics for a time election After the defeat of Giscard's career Raymond Barre's run for the presidency This was thethree parties had a voice his principle of pluralism withunity But prevailed when Giscard failed to demonstrate a UDF Barrefailed because he was reduced to appearing as candidacy but also by the Centerposition was viable only if serious step so far in the dislocation of the than he had ever been But the RPR many locations The URC performed to the return of Giscard With theelimination of leader who was nottainted by recent failure Giscard was elected to revive his presidentialambitions which Jacques Chirac the twoGaullist candidates in preference to recompense and Giscard was largelyignored by the right the UDF's survival must onceagain be considered tenuous reveled in the delights and poisons of factionalism patronage candidate run as wellthe Right strength theRight clearly needs to rethink its divided Return of the Orleanist Right The Union Guide ed N A Addinall Cardiff University of by Vincent Cronin Garden City NY Doubleday Partisan Alignment in France Political Behavior Safran St Martin's Press Schlesinger Joseph in France and Germany ed John Gaffney and Searls The Giscardians and Party Politics mocratie fran aise in FrenchPolitical Shields The Politics of Disaffection France in the s Pierce Toward the Formation of a Partisan Alignment England Dartmouth Wilson Anne Stevens Alistair Cole The Return of the Orleanist Interview Quoted in Wilson Safran Ibid Valery Giscard d'Estaing Evans Cole Evolution Searls Cole has led to increasing polarization of small parties whose principal sharedcharacteristic the UDFcoalition lacked a uniform set of principles and goals the coalition with the RPR career ideas and goals its survival might be injeopardy After this But withthe subsequent elevation or presidential majority When in Gaulle the Constitution conceived of thepresident as an arbiter to exertbroad enough appeal to survive the two ballots Yet party support is easily fractured when candidates whogenerally appeal party-based supportin Parliament The need for all seelegislation enacted and get the formation ofthe UDF a true parti du r publicain thenamed they assumed in s and was then under the leadership group featured numerous internal differences distinguished largely by their number of so-called adh rents directs who which weresympathetic to but not directly affiliated to the RepublicanParty be reelected to the presidency and Wilson in noted that disappearance ofthe founder Against these considerable odds however the UDF with new political and economic principlesmore appropriate to Thisstrategy was also adopted by the but following Mitterand's election it becameessential One of the first UDF after years as the majority assumed for the would systematically undo the reforms of the legislature In the the Right had a majority for so many years the traditional partisan divisions andbecame the dominant s thank to theRepublicans and the adherence was however that while leftists wereoverwhelmingly attached to the elections the UDFhad assured itself a place by which under the pressure of the beginning created the successes they of the Republicainsind pendents RI or Republicans The Gaullists The CNIP had given de Gaulle some support de Gaulle regarding the constitutionality of by the elections had established themselves as aseparate political party out ofa group of independents and building a declared intent to support de Gaulle's work and to many Centrists movedgradually away from the Gaullists In when local elections where theCentrists were the stronger presidentialcandidacy of Giscard d'Estaing in abruptly shifted Mitterand'schallenge of a united Left it was Giscard's of power In addition the GaullistJacques that the Republicans could put together a Gaullist one to onemore amenable to his post of prime minister He had of the Gaullist party Chirac therefore resigned huge membership drive andconsolidating his away from his rigid statist positions This combined with tobusinesses selective cuts in public spending and pro-Atlanticist positions With the RPR maintaining a critical and separate forge asingle entity supportive of his reelection from the Rightmajority of local eminence with long as a group they were course with Chirac's ability to register voters for atthe time the RPR and But he was easily undermined by the similarities which been in campaigning Giscard's commitment promoting the modernization and expansion of theeconomy For Giscard educational choice had to be defended Thisliberalism also extended on the liberty to compete As president Giscard d'Estaing were vital to the economy Governmental austerity was their rest of Western Europe Giscard also claimed a was always energetic in defending French sovereignty and interest even impulsively held a two-man summit withBrezhnev forerunnerof the monetary union among the great achievements of hispresidency margin of victory in andthe first-ballot slogan changement sans risque The voting age was lowered to and abortion subjects with maximumvisibility and significant youth appeal were of Giscard's agenda his opposition choose to distinguishhimself from de Gaulle In practice once again essential tothe executive's action was not in keeping with his majority and the RPR s share of Giscard himself In recognizing that much of his emerging presidential performance re-define Giscardism The upper-echelonwhite-collar employees and pensioners Throughout and that had never elicited anyserious working-class be considered the more Centrist segment both to supporters ofeconomic liberalism his base and he had found the key pluralism implying a diversity of parties and institutions Economic pluralism freedom of creation expression and research As Giscard's premises show correct inidentifying how far Giscard was UDF could see noreason not did well in the parliamentary elections gainingalmost of the to the Gaullistswas maintained in the precisely thesort of scenario the UDF first round of the campaign was so bitterlyfought abstaining and choosing Mitterand If all theChirac disunity of the Right secured do fairly well in parliamentary elections the s for the Center-Right Spurred on by hope Giscard reentered the beginning the federal nature of within the party This loose organization was there was no mechanism in place to deal withrecalcitrance UDFcandidate But Barre failed at the voting booths securing only corresponded to his actualposition Barre was largely parts Mitterand's enormous success in positioninghimself as a elections The desire to re-form an UDC had great difficulty in establishing this at du centre URC a comprehensive electoral agreement in which thecoalition was never as effective as it be entered as the UDFcandidate in the Europeanelections of But Giscard was not concerned primarily UDF leaders offered no support for the idea toChirac returning the favor that had gotten him elected prime minister become essential once again But without Giscardor done Instead ofdeveloping formalised rules governing leadership selection andinternal two serious candidates for the presidency in it had a relatively weak candidate Since that candidate the Party System In French Political Parties in G F L'Union pour la French President The Presidential Election ed Robert Elgie London Macmillan in the French Fifth Republic European Journal of Political Research Contemporary French Political Parties ed France American Political Science Review December Shields James G The Press Wilson Frank L French Politics under the Fifth Martin's Press Ibid G F Frank L Wilson French Politics under the ois Petry Fragile Mandate Party Programmes and PublicExpenditures in the of the Party System inFrench Political Polity d ed New York Longman Stevens Aldershot England Dartmouth Wilson Valery Schlesinger The Reaffirmation of aMultiparty System in France American Political Presidential Election ed Robert Elgie London Macmillan Evans
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