Abstract
A tremendous popular euphoria accompanied François Mitterrand’s election as French president in 1981. After 23 years on the sidelines of national politics, the Left assumed power with a promise to break with capitalism, increase democratic control of the economy, deliver new rights to working people and create a more equitable society. Such a programme promised to alter more than public policy; it sought to forge a realignment of the French party system by sustaining a broad Centre-Left political force. Through new forms of political participation, it attempted to construct deeper relationships between citizen and state.
Keywords
- Political Party
- Collective Bargaining
- Party System
- Postwar Period
- European Monetary System
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
The author would like to thank the following individuals for helpful comments and criticisms: Nancy W. Gallagher, Serge Halimi, Chris Howell, George Ross and Serenella Sferza.
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Notes
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See Kay Lawson, ‘Political Parties and Linkage’, in Lawson, ed., Political Parties and Linkage: A Comparative Perspective ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1980 ).
Alain Lipietz points out correctly that the national-centred approach to economic policy changed to a more open borders policy when Raymond Barre replaced Jacques Chirac as prime minister in August 1976. After the defeat of the Left in the 1978 legislative elections, Barre was able to implement more fully his version of economic liberalism. See ‘Quelle base sociale pour le “changement?”’ Les temps modernes, no. 430 (May 1982) pp. 1898–1930.
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See George Ross, ‘Party Decline and Changing Party Systems: France and the French Communist Party’, Comparative Politics 25, no. 1 (October 1992) pp. 43–61; and Michel Dreyfus, PCF: Crises et dissidences ( Paris: Editions Complexes, 1990 ).
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© 1996 Anthony Daley
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Daley, A. (1996). François Mitterrand, the Left and Political Mobilization in France. In: Daley, A. (eds) The Mitterrand Era. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13699-5_1
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