French Politics

, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp 160–177 | Cite as

Mark Kesselman and the Study of the French Left

  • Nicholas Toloudis
Review Article
First Online:
  • 7 Downloads

Abstract

From his early work covering local politics in France to his most recent studies of the French labor movement, Mark Kesselman has been a keen analyst of the trajectory of the French left. His work has always been a reaction against current trends in political science. The analyses of local politics rejected the then-current modernization paradigm. His examination of the Mitterrand experiment of the early 1980s held out for the possibility of a progressive shift in France. And his recent work on French trade unions moved to the local level, showing how labor has dealt with firm-level responses to technological change.

Keywords

Kesselman local politics Socialism Mitterrand rigueur trade unions CGT 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mark Kesselman for his generous comments on an earlier version of this paper.

References

  1. Binder, L., Colman, J.S., LaPalombara, J., Pye, L.W., Verba, S. and Weiner, M. (1971) Crises and Sequences in Political Development, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  2. Duclaud-Williams, R. (1985) ‘Local politics in centralized systems: the case of French Education’, European Journal of Political Research 13 (2): 167–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Dupuy, F. (1985) ‘The Politico-Administrative System of the Département in France’, in Y. Mény and V. Wright (eds.) Centre-Periphery Relations in Western Europe, London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 79–103.Google Scholar
  4. Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  5. Grémion, P. (1976) Le pouvoir périphérique: bureaucrates et notables dans le système politique français, Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
  6. Hincker, F. (1997) ‘The French Socialists: Towards Post-Republican Values?’, in D. Sassoon (ed.) Looking Left: Socialism in Europe after the Cold War, New York: The New Press, pp. 109–123.Google Scholar
  7. Huntington, S. (1968) Political Order in Changing Societies, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
  8. Kesselman, M. (1965) ‘Presidential leadership in congress on foreign policy’, Midwest Journal of Political Science 9 (4): 401–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Kesselman, M. (1967) The Ambiguous Consensus: A Study of Local Government in France, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
  10. Kesselman, M (1969) France: The Gaullist Era and After, Headline Series. No. 194, New York: Foreign Policy Association.Google Scholar
  11. Kesselman, M. (1970a) ‘Research choices in comparative local politics’, The New Atlantis 1 (2): 48–64.Google Scholar
  12. Kesselman, M. (1970b) ‘Overinstitutionalization and political constraint: the case of France’, Comparative Politics 3 (1): 21–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Kesselman, M. (1972) ‘Research perspectives in comparative local politics: pitfalls and prospects’, Comparative Urban Research 1 (1): 10–30.Google Scholar
  14. Kesselman, M. (1973a) ‘Systèmes de pouvoir et cultures politiques au sein des parties politiques français: Les cas du Parti Socialiste et de l’Union des Démocrates pour la Ve République’, Revue française de sociologie 13 (4): 485–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Kesselman, M. (1973b) ‘Order or movement? The literature of political development as ideology’, World Politics 26 (1): 139–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Kesselman, M. (1973c) ‘Recruitment of rival party activists in France: party cleavages and cultural differentiation’, The Journal of Politics 35: 2–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Kesselman, M. (1979) ‘Poor people's movements: must organizations corrupt?’, The Insurgent Sociologist 8 (4): 62–69.Google Scholar
  18. Kesselman, M. (1980a) ‘Continuity and change on the French left: revolutionary transformation or immobilism?’ Social Research 47 (1): 93–113.Google Scholar
  19. Kesselman, M. (1980b) ‘The Economic Analysis and Programme of the French Communist Party: Consistency Underlying Change’, in P.G. Cerny and M.A. Schain (eds.) French Politics and Public Policy, New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 177–190.Google Scholar
  20. Kesselman, M. (1982a) ‘Prospects for democratic socialism in advanced capitalism: class struggle and compromise in Sweden and France’, Politics and Society 11 (4): 397–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Kesselman, M. (1982b) ‘The State and Class Struggle: Trends in Marxist Political Science’, in B. Ollman and E. Vernoff (eds.) The Left Academy: Marxist Scholarship on American Campuses, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, pp. 82–114.Google Scholar
  22. Kesselman, M. (1983a) ‘Socialist possibilities and capitalist realities: all's quiet on the French leftist front’, Research in Political Economy 6: 277–303.Google Scholar
  23. Kesselman, M. (1983b) ‘The end of Jacobinism? The socialist regime and decentralization’, Contemporary French Civilization 8 (1–2): 84–103.Google Scholar
  24. Kesselman, M. (1983c) ‘The General's revenge: French socialism and the Fifth Republic’, Telos 55: 125–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Kesselman, M. (1983d) ‘France: socialism without the workers: the case of France’, Kapitalstate: Working Papers on the Capitalist State 10(11): 11–41.Google Scholar
  26. Kesselman, M. (1983e) ‘Capitalist austerity versus socialist ‘rigueur’: does it make a difference? The case of France’, New Political Science 12: 37–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Kesselman, M. (ed.) (1984a) ‘Introduction: The French Workers’ Movement at the Crossroads’, The French Workers’ Movement: Economic Crisis and Political Change, London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
  28. Kesselman, M. (ed.) (1984b) ‘Conclusion’, The French Workers’ Movement: Economic Crisis and Political Change, London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 311–322.Google Scholar
  29. Kesselman, M. (1986a) ‘An early post-mortem: the demise of French socialism’, New Politics 1 (1): 137–151.Google Scholar
  30. Kesselman, M. (1986b) ‘Lyrical Illusions or a Socialism of Governance: Whither French Socialism?’, in R. Miliband, J. Saville, M. Liebman and L. Panitch (eds.) Socialist Register, 1985/86, London: Merlin, pp. 233–248.Google Scholar
  31. Kesselman, M. (1989) ‘The New Shape of French Labor and Industrial Relations: Ce n’est plus la même chose’, in P. Godt (ed.) Policy-Making in France: From de Gaulle to Mitterand, London: Pinter Publishers, pp. 165–175.Google Scholar
  32. Kesselman, M. (1996a) ‘Does the French Labor Movement Have a Future?’, in J.T.S. Keeler and M.A. Schain (eds.) Chirac's Challenge: Liberalization, Europeanization, and Malaise in France, New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 143–165.Google Scholar
  33. Kesselman, M. (1996b) ‘French Labour Confronts Technological Change: Reform that Never was?’, in A. Daley (ed.) The Mitterrand Era: Policy Alternatives and Political Mobilization in France, London: Macmillan Press, pp. 161–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Kesselman, M. (1998) ‘Technology and the Labor Movement: Constraint or Opportunity for the CGT?’, in H. Chapman, M. Kesselman and M.A. Schain (eds.) A Century of Organized Labor in France: A Union Movement for the Twenty-First Century, New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Kesselman, M. (2002) ‘The Triple Exceptionalism of the French Welfare State’, in G.S. Goldberg and M.G. Rosenthal (eds.) Diminishing Welfare: A Cross-National Study of Social Provision, Westport, CT: Auburn House, pp. 181–210.Google Scholar
  36. Kesselman, M. (2006) ‘France’, in M. Kesselman, J. Krieger, C.S. Allen, S. Hellman, D. Ost and G. Ross (eds.) European Politics in Transition, (5th edn). New York: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 213–299.Google Scholar
  37. Kesselman, M. and Rosenthal, D. (1974) ‘Sage Professional Papers in Comparative Politics’, in A.R. Zolberg and R.L. Merritt (eds.) Local Power and Comparative Politics, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  38. Offe, C. (1984) ‘Competitive Party Democracy and the Keynesian Welfare State’, in J. Keane (ed.) Contradictions of the Welfare State, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 179–206.Google Scholar
  39. Orwell, G. (1968 [1947]) ‘Toward European Unity’ in S. Orwell and I. Angus (eds.) The Collected Essays Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume IV: In Front of Your Nose, 1945–1950, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 370–375.Google Scholar
  40. Przeworski, A. (1985) Capitalism and Social Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Ross, G. (1991) ‘The Changing Face of Popular Power in France’, in F.F. Piven (ed.) Labor Parties in Postindustrial Societies, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 71–100.Google Scholar
  42. Ross, G. and Jenson, J. (1994) ‘France: Triumph and Tragedy’, in P. Anderson and P. Camiller (eds.) Mapping the West European Left, London: Verso Books, pp. 158–188.Google Scholar
  43. Sewell, W.H. (1992) ‘A theory of structure: duality, agency, and transformation’, The American Journal of Sociology 98 (1): 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Siegfried, A. (1913) Tableau politique de la France de l’Ouest sous la Troisième République, Paris: Colin.Google Scholar
  45. Singer, B. (1983) Village Notables in Nineteenth Century France: Priests, Mayors, Schoolmasters, Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
  46. Steinmo, S., Thelen, K. and Longstreth, F. (eds.) (1992) Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Tarrow, S. (1977) Between Center and Periphery: Grassroots Politicians in Italy and France, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nicholas Toloudis
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Political ScienceRutgers UniversityNew BrunswickUSA

Personalised recommendations