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From Yellow Vests street protest to city council: when social movements run for office

French Politics volume 20, pages 420–443 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

How the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) faced the electoral dilemma? Despite their rejection of political institutions, the French municipal elections of 2020 led some of the participants to embrace conventional politics. Under which circumstances can a social movement lead to political participation and eventually obtain electoral success? Relying on quantitative and qualitative data, this article provides an explanation of the electoral participation of social movement activists and the different outcomes of local elections in Bordeaux, one of the major sites of Yellow Vests’ mobilization in 2018–2019. The article contends that far from allowing marginalized groups to enter the political arena, these elections seem to confirm the “iron law of oligarchy”. Two lists of candidates both claiming to be part of the Yellow Vests movement competed with each other. While “Bordeaux Democracy” rejected partisan support failed to stand, “Bordeaux in Struggle” could rely on organizational support and was able to maintain itself and achieved unexpected electoral success with three local councillors.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. The authors thank the reviewers for their comments and challenging critics, as well as Amy Mazur and the editorial board for their support and their work. The article was translated by Mrs Fauchadour.

  2. Interview of 11 July 2020, 51-year-old man, technician on leave and Member of Parliament.

  3. Interview of 10 September 2020, 57-year-old woman, agent of a public transport company.

  4. Interview of 12 September 2020, 53-year-old man, unemployed factory worker.

  5. Interview of 9 September 2021, 49-year-old woman, artist and assistant of BeL municipal councillors.

  6. Interview of 23 September 2021, 56-year-old man, civil servant on leave, DB campaign director.

  7. Original manuscript, p.140.

  8. Interview of 13 November 2021, 74-year old man, retired.

  9. Informal interview, Anti-Pass Demonstration, Saturday 4 September 2021.

  10. Interview of 12 September2020, 53-year-old man, unemployed factory worker.

  11. The narrative diverges on the way in which the leader is associated with it: a LFI member is said to have played the role of broker with a NPA member, based on a shared affinity and non-institutional logics, but another explanation is evoked: that of a joke which turned into a concrete proposal to associate NPA with the list.

  12. Interview of September 2021, 49-year-old woman, artist and assistant to the Municipal councillors.

  13. Observation of BeL campaign meeting, 3 March 2020, "Housing and Education", Municipal Athenaeum.

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Author notes

  1. Nathan Gaborit

    Present address: ANR GILETSJAUNES, Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles, Belgique

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  1. CNRS, Centre Emile Durkheim, Pessac, France

    Magali Della Sudda

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Correspondence to Magali Della Sudda.

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Della Sudda, M., Gaborit, N. From Yellow Vests street protest to city council: when social movements run for office. Fr Polit 20, 420–443 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-022-00191-z

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Keywords

  • Social movement
  • Yellow vests
  • Municipal election
  • Politics
  • Mixed methods