Party, society, government: Republican democracy in France

Hanley, David Lawrence 2002. Party, society, government: Republican democracy in France. Contemporary France, vol. 5. Oxford: Berghahn.

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Abstract

According to received wisdom parties have played a mainly destructive role in French political development. Of questionable legitimacy, pursuing narrow sectarian goals, often corruptly, they have brought about division, weakness and the collapse of regimes. A proper reading of history suggests differently. By combining historical research and contemporary political science theory about party, the author shows that for over a century party has irrigated French democracy in often invisible ways, brokering working compromises between groups divided strongly along social, political and cultural lines. The key to this success is the party system, which allowed for a high degree of collusion and cooptation between political elites, rhetoric notwithstanding. This hidden logic has persisted to this day despite the advent of presidentialism and remains the key to the continuing prosperity of French democracy.

Item Type:	Book
Book Type:	Authored Book
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DC France J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Publisher:	Berghahn
ISBN:	9781571813374
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2017 11:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/3527

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