Parties and democracy in France. Parties under presidentialism

Book abstract:

The principle political focus of the French Fifth Republic has consistently been the Presidency. This book looks at how the Presidency has shaped political parties and party systems as well as how they have interacted with the new institution.

There are two sections to the book. The first part analyses the overall evolution of the Fifth Republic's party system with two individual chapters on the impact of the Presidency and party system fragmentation.

The second part of the book examines the key political parties in relation to the presidential competition, including a discussion of the cleavages patterns which lie behind the varied divisions caused by the presidential contenders. Therefore the analysis procedure starts with the Conservative, 'mainstream' or orthodox right, then the Front national before moving to the left. The discussion on the Conservatives opens with the neo-gaullist Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) since gaullism is widely recognised as the principal presidential party of the Fifth Republic. This is followed by a review of the three parties of the UDF (Union pour la démocratie française) coalition: Force démocrate, Démocratic libéral and the Radicals. A chapter on the Front National concludes the French right. There follows a discussion of the left starting with the Communists and followed by a short chapter on the Socialists.

This book will be useful to students of contemporary French politics as well as those in the field of comparative politics.