evans cover 5/2/03 2:37 PM Page 1 T H E F R E N This book provides a complete overview of political parties in France. The social and ideological profiles of all the major parties C THE are analysed chapter by chapter, highlighting their principal H functions and dynamics within the system. This examination is P complemented by analyses of bloc and system features, including FRENCH A the pluralist left, Europe, and the ideological space in which the R parties operate. In particular, the book addresses the impressive capacity of French parties and their leaders to adapt themselves to T PARTY Y the changing concerns of their electorates and to a shifting institutional context. Contrary to the apparently fragmentary S system and increasingly hostile clashes between political Y SYSTEM personalities, the continuities in the French political system seem S T destined to persist. E Drawing on the expertise of its French and British contributors, The M French partysystemforms a benchmark study of the state of party Edited by politics in France. It will be an essential text for all students of French politics and parties, and of interest to students of European Evans Jocelyn Evans politics more generally. ed. Jocelyn Evans is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Salford The French party system The French party system edited by Jocelyn A.J.Evans Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Manchester University Press 2003 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and no chapter may be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission in writing of both author and publisher. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6119 9 hardback 0 7190 6120 2 paperback First published 2003 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset in New Baskerville and Stone Sans by Carnegie Publishing Ltd Printed in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow To Barbara Contents Contents Contents List of figures and tables page ix List of contributors xi Acknowledgements xii List of abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 Stress, strain and stability in the French party system Alistair Cole 11 I The left 2 The French Communist Party: from revolution to reform David S.Bell 29 3 PS intra-party politics and party system change Ben Clift 42 4 The Greens: from idealism to pragmatism (1984–2002) Bruno Villalba and Sylvie Vieillard-Coffre 56 5 Managing the plural left: implications for the party system David Hanley 76 6 Beyond the mainstream: la gauche de la gauche Jim Wolfreys 91 II The right 7 The UDF in the 1990s: the break-up of a party confederation Nicolas Sauger 107 8 From the Gaullist movement to the president’s party Andrew Knapp 121 9 The FN split: party system change and electoral prospects Gilles Ivaldi 137 vii viii Contents III System context 10 Europe and the French party system Jocelyn A.J.Evans 155 11 Contemporary developments in political space in France Robert Andersen and Jocelyn A.J.Evans 171 Conclusion 189 References 201 Index 211 List of figures and tables List of figures and tables List of figures and tables Figures 4.1 Green membership by department page 59 4.2 Green presidential election results (1981–2002) 63 4.3 Ecologist regional election results by department (1986 and 1992) 64 4.4 Green electoral strategies by department (1986 and 1998) 65 4.5 The main themes of the Green–PS programmatic agreement (1997) 70 4.6 Motions in the Toulouse Congress and regional assembly voting 72 4.7 Green presidential primaries in 2002 73 8.1 Votes for Gaullists and for all moderate right-wing parties at parliamentary elections (1958–2002) 129 11.1 Mean scores for attitudes in favour of immigration by party bloc 181 11.2 Mean scores for attitudes not in favour of the death penalty by party bloc 181 11.3 Mean scores for attitudes against homosexuality by party bloc 182 11.4 Mean scores for attitudes against privatisation by party bloc 182 C.1 Effective number of parties and presidential candidates in France (1978–2002) 190 C.2 Effective number of parties and presidential candidates on the left and right in France (1978–2002) 191 C.3 Total volatility in French legislative elections (1978–2002) 193 ix