Description
Book SynopsisThis book is an accessible, original and thought--provoking examination of contemporary French politics. The author clearly explains the most important party political, ideological and electoral developments since the Second World War, focusing on the 1980s and 1990s in particular.
Trade Review"In a subject area where the textbooks tend to be bland and highly descriptive it is good to have a distinctive voice propounding a consistent viewpoint around which debate and discussion can be structured."
Professor Anne Stevens, University of Kent at Canterbury
"A useful summary of twentieth century French politics, both on the left and the right." Political Studies
Table of ContentsList of Tables and Figures.
Acknowledgements.
Abbreviations.
Part I. Introduction. .
Part II: A History of Conflict and Revolt. .
France and modernity.
Domestic conflict and international relations.
Political ideology and political parties.
The polarization of the labour movement and the patronat.
Republicanism and manifestations of a more moderate history.
An exceptional history?.
Part III: Political Exceptionalism, 1945-1981.
Consensus politics in Western Europe since 1945.
French politics in the post-war era.
The persistence of radicalism and the absence of Fordist compromise.
Part IV: The End of Exceptionalism? The 1980s and 1990s.
The decline of overt conflict.
Explaining consensus: the 1980s as a moment of tripartite harmony.
Consensus beyond tripartism.
Part V: Social Democracy and the Left. .
The history of social democracy.
The nature of the left in France.
Characterizing the Socialist Party.
A crisis of social democracy?.
Part VI: The Paradoxes of Gaullist Modernization. .
Authoritarian aspects of de Gaulle's rule.
The progress of political stability and democracy.
De Gaulle's foreign policy and the uses of grandeur. .
De Gaulle and the economy: modernization from above.
The unevenness of socio-economic change.
Part VII: The Historical Significance of May 1968. .
Régis Debray and Gilles Lipovestsky: the ruse of reason.
The results of May.
The spirit of May and the Socialist years.
Locating May historically.
Part VIII: The Waning of Intellectual Commitment.
The place of intellectuals in post-war political life.
The decline of the left intellectual.
The re-emergence of liberal political thought.
Part IX: Conclusions.
The end of history.
Fordism and post-Fordism: the regulation school.
Theorizing change.
Appendices.
Bibliography.
Index.
