Direction des études et de la scolarité

Collège universitaire, campus de Paris

Enseignement électif
Semestre de printemps 2019

French Politics, Understanding the stakes of French political life

(1958-2019)

Teachers and timetables:

Main course’s professor:
Dr. Vincent Martigny – Wednesdays 4.45-6.45pm

Conferences’ teachers:
PhD candidate Ségolène Mennesson : segolene.mennesson@sciencespo.fr – Mondays 7.15-
9.15pm in room 409 – 56, rue des Saint-Pères / Wednesdays 5-7pm in room 913– 9, rue de la
Chaise.
PhD candidate Paul Max Morin (Teaching Assistant): paul.morin@sciencespo.fr – Tuesdays
5-7pm in room 103 – 56, rue des Saint-Pères.

Language:
English

Presentation of the course:

This 12 weeks lecture in political science is dedicated to the presentation, discussion and
analysis of the main stakes of French political life, with a particular focus on presidential
elections. It will consist in explaining the historical institutional role and attributions of the
main power figures in French politics (President of the Republic, Prime minister, leaders of
the National assembly and Senate, MPs) and outline the stakes of recent and past presidential
elections (2002, 2007, 2012, 2017); it will also present the main political parties, the essential
actors as well as the ongoing questions of French politics, and relate them to French political
history since the birth of the current Fifth Republic in 1958. How to explain the spectacular
rise of Emmanuel Macron? Have we entered a new political world? How to understand the
strength of the National Front in French politics? These are some questions, among others,
that will be answered during this lecture.

Grading system:

Participation in class - 10%

Press Review - 30%
Oral presentation - 60%

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr
 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, campus de Paris
Enseignement électif
Semestre de printemps 2019

Organization of the Course

Lecture 1: Introduction. The legacy of Gaullism and the birth of the Fifth Republic

Lecture 2: Power distribution in the French political system

● Press Review
● Presentation: Who has the power in France?
Advised reference: The Constitution of October the 4th, 1958
● Lecture

Lecture 3: State, the Republic & Nation in France

● Press Review
● Presentation: How has National Identity become a political issue during the 5th
Republic?
Advised reference: Vincent Martigny, “The importance of culture in civic nations:
Culture and the Republic in France”, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2008,
8(3).
● Lecture

Lecture 4: The Elite system in power

● Press Review
● Presentation: Is France governed by ‘énarques’?
Advised reference: William Genieys, “The sociology of political Elites in France:
The End of an Exception?”, International Political Science Review, 2005, 26(4).
● Lecture

Lecture 5: Party politics (1) The Left

● Press Review
● Presentation: Is the Left dead?
Advised reference: Alistair Cole, “The French socialist party and its radical
ambiguity”, French Politics, Culture & Society, 2011, 29(3).
● Lecture

Lecture 6: Party politics (2) The Right and Centre

● Press Review
● Presentation: Is LREM a right-wing movement?
Advise refence: Cameron Michael Gil, “Spacial analysis of La République En
Marche and French Parties, 2002–2017”, French Politics, 2018, published
online.
● Lecture

Lecture 7: Party politics (3) Radical political forces and protest groups: The National Front
● Press Review
● Presentation: Is the National Front similar to other European far-right parties?
Advised reference: Jean-Yves Camus, Nicolas Lebourg, Far right politics in
Europe, Harvard, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.
27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr
 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, campus de Paris
Enseignement électif
Semestre de printemps 2019

● Lecture

Lecture 8: French electoral behaviour

● Press Review
● Presentation: Is the Left-Right cleavage dead?
Advise reference: Emiliano Grossman, Nicolas Sauger, “Economic
internationalization and the decline of the left–right dimension”, Party
Politics, 2019, 25(1).
● Lecture

Lecture 9: Presidential elections in 1981 and 2002: from the Left’s dream to its nightmare
● Press Review
● Presentation: Is the Left incompatible with power?
Advised reference: Clément Desbos, Frédéric Royall, “Globalization and political
posturing on the Left in France in the 1990s”, French Politics, 2011, 9(2).
● Lecture

Lecture 10: Presidential elections in 2007: reshuffling the cards of party politics?
● Press Review
● Presentation: What is Sarkozysm?
Advised reference: Eddy Fougier, “What is Sarkozysm? The Sarkozy revolution of
the French wing”, L’Europe en formation, n°365, 2012.
● Lecture

Lecture 11: From 2007 to 2012: a political renewal?

● Press Review
● Presentation: The zenith or the farewell of the 5th Republic?
Advise reference: Raymond Kuhn, “The mediatization of presidential
leadership in France: The contrasting cases of Nicolas Sarkozy and François
Hollande”, French Politics, 15(1).
● Lecture

Lecture 12: A disruptive vote? What happened during the 2017 Presidential election?
● Press Review
● Presentation: Emmanuel Macron: “un nouveau monde”?
Advise refence: Florent Gougou, Simon Persico, “A new party system in the
making? The 2017 French presidential election”, French Politics, 2017, 15(3).
● Lecture

Office hours:

Prior to the mid-term exam and at the end of the semester, Paul Max Morin will answer your
questions and offer methodological assistance during office hours on March 6 & April 24
5 - 7pm at the Cevipof lab, 98 rue de l’Université, last floor.

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr
 Direction des études et de la scolarité
Collège universitaire, campus de Paris
Enseignement électif
Semestre de printemps 2019

Journals:
French politics, culture and society
French culture and society
European Journal of political sciences

Bibliography:
Nicholas Atkin, The Fifth French Republic, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=752675)
David S. Bell, Parties and democracy in France: parties under presidentialism, Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2000.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=303322)
Sylvain Brouard, Andrew Appleton, Amy G. Mazur (eds), The French Fifth Republic at Fifty.
Beyond Stereotypes, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1163591)
Alistair Cole, Governing and governance in France, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1154026)
Alistair Cole, Patrick Le Galès, Jonah D. Levy (eds), Developments in French Politics 4, New
York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1152526)
Richard Conley, From Elysian fields to the guillotine? The dynamics of presidential and
prime ministerial approval in Fifth Republic France, Comparative Political Studies (2006-
06) vol.39: n°5, p.570-598.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=4239)
Robert Elgie, Political institutions in contemporary France, Oxford University Press, 2003.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=602483)
Robert Elgie & Steven Griggs, French Politics. Debates and Controversies, New York,
Routledge, 2000.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=325284)
Catherine Fieschi, Fascism, populism and the French Fifth Republic: in the shadow of
democracy, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=679740)
Rod Kedward, France and the French, A Modern History, New York, Overlook, 2007. John
Gaffney, Political leadership in France: from Charles de Gaulle to Nicolas Sarkozy,
Basingstoke, New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1197255)
Andrew Knapp, Parties and the party system in France: a disconnected democracy?
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=755647)
Michael Lewis-Beck, Richard Nadeau, Éric Bélanger, French presidential elections,
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1223779)
Vincent Martigny, Dire la France. Culture(s) et identités nationales (1981-1995), Paris,
Presses de Sciences Po, 2016.
(http://catalogue.sciencespo.fr/ark:/46513/sc0001293316)
Pascal Perrineau (Ed.), Le vote disruptif, chroniques électorales 2017, Paris, Presses de
Sciences Po, 2017.
William Safran, The French polity, Pearson Longman, cop. 2009.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1150135)
Anne Stevens, Government and politics of France, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=547167)
“France's political institutions at 50” special issue in West European Politics, (2009-03)
vol.32: °2, p.243-437.
(http://catalogue/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=5546

27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr