French Politics, June-November 1979

1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Stanley Hoffmann

After a summer of ill humor came an autumn of scandals, and French political life hesitates between immobility and fragmentation. For many years now it has resembled an endless boxing match with countless rounds ; as soon as the elections to the European Parliament (discussed in the previous issue of this Review) were over, all thoughts and maneuvers moved on to the next round : the Presidential election of 1981. De Gaulle, blasting the Fourth Republic, had talked of its games, poisons and delights. In the current phase of the Fifth Republic, the delights are few, the poisons can be deadly and the games are sterile.

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Wood

A series of significant developments in French politics has recently touched off speculation about the possibility that a major transformation of the structure and behavioral patterns of the system of political parties is taking place. The most salient developments from 1958 until 1967 can be briefly listed: (1) the unprecedented longevity of governmental coalitions throughout the entire span of life of the Fifth Republic (only one Government overthrown in eight years); (2) the near single-party majority attained by the Gaullist UNR in the November, 1962 elections; (3) the ability of five major non-Gaullist parties to coalesce their forces behind only two candidates opposing General de Gaulle in the December, 1965 presidential election, with the resulting necessity for a second ballot; (4) the subsequent merging of forces on the moderate left and the moderate right into combinations bent upon coordinated efforts in the March, 1967 legislative elections; (5) the successful construction of a Gaullist electoral alliance limiting the number of official Gaullist first-ballot candidates in each constituency to one; (6) the electoral agreements between the Communists and the moderate left Fédération permitting only one candidate of the left to remain in the race in any constituency on the second ballot; and (7) the tendency of voters to reward the united fronts of the outgoing Gaullist majority and the consistent leftist opposition and to penalize the relatively small and ambiguous center force, the Centre Démocrate.


Author(s):  
Marta Pachocka

During World War II and the postwar years, France’s international position has been weakened. The seizure of power by Charles de Gaulle in 1958 contributed to a stabilization of the political situation in the country and to a redefinition of French foreign policy. The article analyzes the international position of France from the end of World War II until 2007, when Nicolas Sarkozy won the presidential election. Thus, the article covers the period of the existence of two French republics: the Fourth Republic in the years 1946–1958 and the Fifth Republic, which remains Hexagone’s contemporary political system since 1958. The article consists of three parts. In the first part the external and internal conditions of the birth of the Fifth Republic are presented, with particular emphasis on the role of its creator – Ch. de Gaulle. The second part discusses the importance of France in Europe aft er 1945, emphasizing its contribution to the process of European integration and to the development of relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the USSR/Russian Federation and the Mediterranean countries. Then, the third part of my article stresses the position of France in the system of international relations after World War II, analyzing it on the example of Franco-American and Franco-NATO relations, the French policy towards the Arab and African countries, and finally, on the example of the Republic’s multilateral diplomacy. I conclude that in the examined period 1945–2007 France is an example of the former global superpower, which builds and strengthens its international position as a regional power with global interests.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-228
Author(s):  
Barbara Patlewicz

In previous years Azerbaijan experienced only a few of leadership changes following independence in 1991. In 1992 Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of the Popular Front, won first fairly contested presidential election. However the beginning of the current phase political life took place in 1993. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied then 14–16 percent of Azerbaijan (20 percent according to Azerbaijani sources), including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The collapse of the Popular Front government led to Heidar Aliev’s former communist party boss return to Baku as national leader. During his presidency (1993–2003), Aliev ensured political order, economic stabilization and peace, but suppressed political pluralism. At the time Azerbaijan has positioned itself on the international scene as an increasingly important actor, but in domestic politics system crafted by Aliev political power was concentrated in the hands post-Soviet cadres and regional clans. Ilham Aliev became president of the country in 2003. The period immediately preceding and following his reelection for a second term in October 2008 was marked by further steps towards the consolidation of the semiauthoritarian and authoritarian regime established by his father – Heidar.


1952 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1069-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Duverger

To any observer the French party system is bewildering. On the one hand, he sees that ten parliamentary groups are officially established in the National Assembly (not including the Overseas Independents); and, at the same time, he notes that only five of them are really organized throughout the country, and so entitled to be considered “parties” in the true sense of the word: the RPF, the Radicals, the MRP, the Socialists, and the Communists. On the other hand, he observes that the ablest French specialists in electoral sociology—particularly André Siegfried and his disciple, François Goguel—consider that, behind the apparent profusion of political groups, two basic divisions are always found, the continuing opposition of which has supplied for more than a century the essential dynamics of French politics. These two divisions are, of course, the Right and the Left, traditionally called “Order” and “Movement.” Nevertheless, the brief history of the Fourth Republic reveals an attempt to break down these two blocs, and to build a “Third Force” from smaller units. Under various names, such a Third Force has governed France from March, 1947, to March, 1952; and if our hypothetical observer will look back and analyze the political life of the Third Republic, he will find the same tendency there, not so marked and not so strong, but always present.


1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Cerny

French politics have been undergoing a process of restructuring since the coming of the Fifth Republic in 1958. This process, like any process of political change, has been a complex one involving many factors and variables. The most obvious of these factors has been the one most commented upon by journalists and contemporary historians – the influence of General de Gaulle and his policies (the new constitution, foreign policy, etc.). What is only beginning to emerge from the academic debate is the relationship between Gaullist politics and the other variables.


1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Boynton ◽  
Gerhard Loewenberg

Public support for the existing institutions of government depends in part on public perceptions of the alternatives. This assertion will not come as news in those parts of the world where changing the regime is a regular part of political life. In France, for example, where regimes have been numbered to distinguish them from each other, it is common knowledge that public evaluations of the Fourth Republic depended on comparisons with the Third, that especially in its early years the Fifth Republic was frequently judged by comparison with the Fourth, and that in particularly sophisticated circles these more or less contemporary regimes have been frequently compared with the First and Second Republics.


1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (x) ◽  
pp. 341-352
Author(s):  
Melissa Clegg

Since the founding of the Fifth Republic Paris has been rebuilt to an extent only the reconstructions of the Second Empire under Napoleon III could match. The story of its rebuilding—told by David Pinkney, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Washington—could serve as a fable with a moral about the whole of French cultural and political life for the last twenty-five years. De Gaulle began the transformation of Paris by deregulating the building industry. The threats of that policy to the historical character of the city eventually provoked, under Giscard d’Estaing and Mitterrand, a return to the centrist practices of a state accustomed to regulation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 247-270
Author(s):  
Brian Holden Reid

This chapter details how the year 1864 allowed William T. Sherman to operate for the first time not as a subordinate commander but as director of a series of armies in the field. His contribution to overall Union strategy would be significant and thus he began to exercise command at the level military analysts currently refer to as the operational level of war. Such a level links tactics and methods of fighting with strategy, in the overall scheme. It defines the manner in which armies organize in discrete campaigns and seek to fulfill the object of strategy by winning victories. Sherman’s performance overall needs to be considered by taking all aspects into account. As he began to work at the higher levels of the military art, he began to change the way in which people think and talk about war, and he propounded an individual philosophy of war. The higher he progressed, the more Sherman could not avoid confronting the harsh realities of political life, for his campaigns increasingly had an impact not just on American political discourse but indeed in 1864 on the outcome of the presidential election. Sherman expressed clear-cut political views and expounded them perhaps too forcefully. This complex mix worked as a catalyst in developing his ideas about war and his ability to put them into practice.


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