Party Families: Left and Right

Despite DeGaulle's opposition to political parties on the grounds that they would only produce parliamentary instability, the emergence of powerful political parties has played a key role in keeping the Fifth Republic one of the most stable republics ever.

While many political scientists complain that most liberal democracies have weak party systems that are unresponsive to the popular will, French parties have been quite the opposite. In fact, one of the biggest differences between the American and British party system and the French is how many parties actually thrive in France.

Far from being disruptive, French parties have been helped connect French voters to the issues of the day and have spanned the ideological spectrum from the Communist Party to the Nationalist Front.

An important development in the Fifth Republic has been the tendency of political parties to form stable party families or blocs after the first round of balloting has taken place. A discussion of every political bloc will get too complicated but there have been 2 major ideologies that have dominated French politics: those on the right and those on the left.

These 2 tendencies find their source going all the way back to the French Revolution, and the post-Vichy politics of the Fourth Republic. While far from united, the lift and right constitute party families or blocs, the members of which cooperate on most occasions. The concept of French political blocs is important, because of the tendency in French politics to form coalitions after the first ballot elections.

The Fifth republic uses a single-member district- two-ballot process that helps smaller parties get involved in parliamentary elections- at least in the first round. Here is how it works. France is divided into districts, just like the US or the UK. The difference is, in France you have to get an absolute majority (50% plus 1) to win your district. Because of all the candidates and parties running for the National Assembly, this is usually impossible. So there is a second ballot vote that takes place, open to any candidate that got at least 12.5% of the vote in the first ballot. This second round or ballot forces a lot of the smaller parties on the right and left to join families or blocs on the right or left in the hope of gaining some influence wit the winning party.

Partially because the left (socialists and communists) could not agree enough on policy and were always competing against each other in the second ballot, the center-right parties controlled the presidency and the parliament from 1958 up until the 1980's. Another reason why leftist parties could not gain the presidency or parliament was their initial opposition to the Fifth Republic. Playing up this fear of communism or revolution- right wing parties or leaders always tried to scare the public into voting for them and not the leftists, a technique that worked until Francois Mitterand took over in 1981.

In fact, by winning the 1981 election and accepting the Fifth republic, the Left made the biggest contribution to the stability to the Fifth Republic by working within the system to promote change and sponsoring overdue reforms- rather than trying to overthrow the system or sabotage it.

De Gaulle's Influence

Although De Gaulle wanted to bypass political parties when he established the referendum system and the popular election of the president, political parties have become essential vehicles to getting popular support every 7 years.

Far from removing the power of the parties, the direct election of the president produced the polarization and presidentialization of the party system and French politics in general.

Polarization means that parties and their followers will split into various groups during the 2-ballot election. As mentioned before, in the first ballot, the parliamentary or presidential races are free-for-alls, with the Left and Right running candidates from all ideological persuasions. But after the First round, the coalition building and compromises to the Left and Right takes place.

The "Presidentialization" of the French party system means that just like in America, parties are going to prioritize their program, organization and strategy to having their main candidate win the presidential elections.

Major Parties

PS

The PS is one of the major success stories in recent French history. From 1981 to the present day, the Ps has influenced French life through its policy goals and specific reforms it put in place under Mitterand.

Few could have predicted that after De Gaulle, a party with aging schoolteachers and union leaders could unseat the Conservatives and win the Presidency in 1981. But the PS did just that, with its leader Mitterand ruling until 199S and Lionel Jospin becoming Prime Minister in 1997 after a huge upset win.

The rise of the Left after the 1960's begins and ends with Francois Mitterand. Mitterand was a centrist although still a self-proclaimed Socialist. He was stuck between the failed appeal of the right-wing Gaullists and the Communist party.

Francois Mitterand took over the PS in 1971 and began to rebuild the party's image after the 1968 riots had deepened many French people's resentment against the Left. In 1972, Mitterand tried to build a democratic-socialist party by forming an alliance with the communists (called Common Programme) and then attempted to limit their power. He signed a pact with France's Communist Party, which pledged that the victorious party (either the PS or PCF) would carry out the agenda of the two parties. Yet this pact with the PCF ended in 1977 after the two sides argued about policy direction.

Mitterand achieved some major long-term goals although his pact with the communists failed. He helped the PS in 4 ways:

1. He built up a political machine in the late 1960's and 1970's that brought a lot of support from students, workers and the middle class.

2. He attracted many senior bureaucrats with his criticism of d'Estaing's economic policies and corrupt practices.

3. By signing pact with the PCF that the communists later walked away from, Mitterand could point out how better the PS was compared to the PCF (especially since only the PCF was publicly supporting the USSR with a straight face)

4. By having the PCF join with the PS- he took away the sting of any criticism the PCF directed at him (they too were part of any problems)

The PS took power in 1981 by advocating substantial, even radical changes in the French economy and welfare state.

The PS stood apart from other European socialist parties because of their belief in actually trying to implement socialism in France rather than just talking about it. Between 1981 and 1983, the Socialist government, which included 4 communist ministers in the cabinet, actually tried to turn France into a socialist state. First, they nationalized corporations and banks, with sales from public firms going from 17% in 1981 to 30% by 1983. Second, they increased the power of the trade unions by instituting mandatory collective bargaining. Third, the PS decentralized the bureaucracy and gave more of a political voice to the 89 departements or regions of France. Yet, by 1983, high unemployment and rising interest rates caused the PS (Mitterand) to do a U-turn and adopt and abandon leftist economic policy. As mentioned before, the economic hangover from Mitterand's early policies stayed around long enough to produce a stunning parliamentary victory for the right wing n 1986, with Jacques Chirac being named prime Minister and sharing power with Mitterand. Although Chirac began to sell of state owned industries- the process was painfully slow. Up until 1988 Government spending still represented an astounding 49% of GDP. Yet in the 1988 presidential election, both the left and right realized that change was necessary in the French economy. Mitterand campaigned on a platform calling for an end to nationalization. Both the left and the right agreed that market forces had to play a bigger role in the economy. Yet neither Mitterand nor Chirac have been able to end the troubles that still plague France to this day: high unemployment, rising crime, growing budget deficits, etc.

By the 1990's, as Mitterand became more and more unpopular- so did the PS.

The low point occurred in the 1993 legislative elections when it's popular vote was cut in half and it only controlled 20% of the seats in the National assembly. But Socialist rule from 1981 to 1995 did have 3 major consequences:

1. There was a radical reduction in the power of the PCF

2. A blurring of the lines between left and right in that the extremes of both ideologies subsided (except for the FN) That is, the PS moved decidedly to the center from 1983 to 1995.

3. A growing sense that privatization and free-market economic principles were important- something Chirac and the right took note of and ran victory, with in 1993 and 1995. By 1995, Jospin and the PS had accepted the popular aspects of privatization and were no longer calling for radical reforms or nationalization of industry.

In a period from 1944 to the mid 1980's, the Communist Party was among the largest parties in France. It presented itself as the heir to the French revolutionary tradition, proud of its close links to the French working class and to the USSR, which it regarded as the shining example of Socialism.

Like other orthodox communist parties, the PCF believed in democratic socialism- in other words a philosophy that was long on centralism and short on democracy. Any criticism of the PCF within its ranks was seen as treason and one could be kicked out of the party at moments' notice.

Yet, the PCF was popular in France for the first 40 years after the Vichy regime. It served as a major opposition force to established parties on the left and the right and had major credentials after being in the Resistance movement

While the PCF served as a major opposition group in the e Republic and the Fifth Republic- they weren't simply an opposition group. The PCF helped to integrate workers and other disenfranchised citizens into France's political and social life- thus allowing for reform within the system as opposed to violent change. Yet ironically, by accepting the French political system- the PCF signed it's own death warrant, legitimacy led to disinterest and apathy on the part of potential PCF supporters.

Outdated ideology, support for the Soviet Union, and even some opposition to Gorbachov, led most French people to view the PCF as political dinosaurs. From a party that once commanded 200/o of the first ballot vote, to a small and paranoid group that barley got 9% in the 1993 elections, the PCF is more of a political oddity than a force to be reckoned with.

Center-Right

RPR- Rally for the Republic (Jacques Chirac 1974)

French parties on the right have always been numerous and fragmented since the post-Vichy era. Under De Gaulle's leadership, a new party was created, the RPR (Rally for the Republic), which dominated French politics until 1974. It was originally created to support De Gaulle's program of French independence and nationalism; modernization of French society, and nationalization of the French economy, while still preserving France's unique cultural heritage.

Yet after De Gaulle left office in 1969, and his successor Georges Pompidou died unexpectedly in office 5 years later, there was no single leader to take over the RPR and it slipped into oblivion- failing to win the presidency until the election of Jacques Chirac in 1995.

Chirac took over the RPR in 1974 and ran twice (before 1995) unsuccessfully for president. By the late 1970's, the RPR had turned in favor of market economics and moved away from DeGaulle's belief in government regulation of the economy.

Thus, Chirac, much to the criticism of some in his party, has changed his stance on privatization and order, morality, lower taxes, and high tariffs. Chirac's RPR then, is considered center-right only in the context of French politics, it would probably be left-center in American politics. The RPR, like the Socialist, is in favor of European integration; is no longer anti-American (it rejoined NATO in 1996), it still believes in preserving the heart of the welfare system and has not completely privatized the French economy.

The highlight of RPR success occurred in the 1993 legislative elections, when the RPR along with other center-right parties, claimed almost 80% of the sates in the NA. Two years later, the RPR successfully elected Chirac as president, the first Gaullist president since De Gaulle himself.

UDF (Valery Giscard d'Estaing 1978)

Created in 1978, the UDF (Union for French Democracy) is an umbrella party supporting several other smaller factions that opposed De Gaulle in the early years of the Fifth Republic. The party's main leader has been Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who was elected president in 1974 and lost to Mitterand in 1981. While back in the 1970's, Chirac's RPR opposed free market reforms and European integration- the UDF under d'Estaing supported those proposals.

The UDF's economic liberalism was matched by its strong emphasis on individual freedom. It wasn't the government's duty to legislate morality, the UDF felt- that should be up to each and every French citizen.

The differences between the RPR and UDF not only caused a rift between the French Right Wing- it helped the PS win elections in 1981 and 1988 under Francois Mitterand. Yet the RPR and UDF did join forces to help win 80% of the seats in the national Assembly in 1993 and d'Estaing stepped aside to let Chirac run and win in 1995.

Far Right

FN (Jean Marie Le Pen 1972)

The history of the Fifth Republic has witnessed the transformation of France from a country of political extremes to a country in which the political center has taken a firm hold in terms of party ideologies. Yet in the last 2 elections, extremist parties have gotten almost 20% of the First-round ballot votes. The dominant party on the left is the Communist Party, whose influence is waning, while the dominant party on the right is the National Front, whose popularity is on the rise.

The FN is headed by Jean Marie Le Pen, ex-Algerian War veteran and an open admirer of Marshall Petain, the Vichy leader during German occupation.

The FN has positioned itself as the heir to the ugly French tradition of authoritarianism and xenophobia, focusing on the themes of corruption, insecurity, and anti-immigration.

From it's creation, The platform of the FN has been surprisingly simple: France is being overrun by third-world immigrants (read: North Africans) who are not only taking jobs away from French citizens and living off welfare, but are also contributing to the decline of French civilization. Le Pen and the FN have called for expulsion of almost 2 million immigrants. The slogan of the FN, not surprisingly, is "France for the French".

The FN's greatest impact has been on public opinion. For the first time since World War II, a French political party openly insults members of an ethnic minority and advocates a racist and authoritarian stance. This extreme ideology has touched a cord with France's voters-forcing the government to respond to Le Pen by passing anti-immigration legislation. The FN does particularly well with unemployed workers or white lower classes in hard-hit industrial areas like Marseilles and rural areas around France.

A poll taken after the 1995 elections found 30% of all voters and 43% of Gaullist voters hoped that Chirac and the RPR would consider implementing FN views- including opposition to European integration and the expulsion of French immigrants.