france political culture

1. FRANCE
Political Culture, Political Recruitment and
Political Socialization

3. SOME RELEVANT HISTORY
 One of the oldest nation-states of Europe
 French Revolution began with the
establishment of a constitutional monarchy in
1791 (the First Republic)
 Three more constitutions
 Napoleon
 Restoration of Bourbons
 House of Orleans
 Paris Revolution in 1848

4. MORE: THE HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
 Second Republic (1848-1852)
 Universalmale suffrage
 Napoleon III
 Franco Prussian War
 Third Republic (1871)
 WWII deeply divided France
 Charles de Gaulle
 Fourth Republic (1946-1958)
 24 governments in 12 years
 Fifth Republic (1958 onward)

5. POLITICAL CULTURE:
CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
 Public attitudes  Levels of political
toward politics and culture
their role in the  System
political system  Process
 Parochial  Policy
 Subject
 Partipatory

6. FRENCH POLITICAL CULTURE:
THEMES
“Burden of history” Versailles
 “Enlightened”
monarchs allowed
relatively free
through – as long
as it remained
abstract
 Concept of being
“French”unites
 Specifics of what
that means divides

7. SHAPE OF POLITICAL TRUST
 Conflicting orientations arising from valuation of
individualism and equality
 Participation in politics initially seen as means of
weakening strong government
 Assertion of individualism sometimes led to
anarchy

8. RELIGIOUS AND ANTI-RELIGIOUS
TRADITIONS
 Roman
Catholics vs.
Huguenots
 Anti-clerical
sub-culture
 Church
teaching less
authoritative
in Catholic
sub-culture

9. OTHER RELIGIOUS
TRADITIONS ANTIRELIGIOUS
TRADITIONS
 French Jews
 “de-christianized”
& secular culture
 Revolution of 1789
 Impact of World
War II
 Muslims
 New immigation

10. DEFENSE AGAINST ANARCHY
 Place individuals who reflected he popular will in
power
 Individuals who reflect popular will use
government to bring about equality
 Allows for the accommodation to large role for
the bureaucracy

11. HISTORY AND THE PROCESS OF
CHANGE
 Sudden change –
rather than gradual
mutation have
dominated critical
moments in French
history
 Leads to conclusion
that no change can be
brought about except
by major upheaval
 Lead to skepticism
about the possibility
of meaningful change

12. BETWEEN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
AND THE FIFTH REPUBLIC RULES OF
THE POLITICAL REGIME IN FRANCE
WERE SATISFACTORY TO ONLY ONE
SEGMENT OF THE POLITY - AND HOTLY
CONTESTED BY OTHERS

13. FIFTH REPUBLIC
 Early years political
culture resembled the
situation that prevailed
between 1789 and 1958
 Election of Francois
Mitterrand to
presidency (1981)
 aid to rest two hundred
years of hostility among
French political elites
 Attitudes and
orientations of masses
followed developments
among the elites

14. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION:
FAMILY
 Traditionally conservative
 Modifications to traditional patriarchal structure
 Associations as tools of political socializations

15. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION:
EDUCATION
 Historic importance of baccalauret and lycee
 Changes in the Fifth Republic
 700,000 graduates in 1945
 6.1 million in1994
 Universities
 48%in higher education during 1990’s
 Comparable to rest of W. Europe

16. GRANDES ECOLE
 Functions outside of
regular system of
universities
 Highly selective- no
increase in enrollment
 Training ground of
highly specialized
elites

17. SOCIALIZATION AND MASS
COMMUNICATION: PRINT
MEDIA
 For much of 20th century major newspapers were
in the hands of business tycoons or political
parties
 Currently: most papers owned by business
conglomerates

18. TELEVISION
 State ownership from 1945 – 1981
 Television and radio opened to private
sector in 1982 - a project of the Socialists
 State television forced to provide the
opposition with time to reply to the
government
 Only two of six non-cable channels owned
by government

19. ELITE POLITICAL
RECRUITMENT
 Grandes écoles
 higher education
establishments
outside the  Fifth Republic – more
mainstream senior civil servants from
framework of the the professionals class
public universities than during the Fourth
system. Republic
 selection criteria of
grandes écoles rests
mainly on competitive
written and oral
exams


20. GRANDES ÉCOLES CORPS
 Recruited from Ecole
Nationale
d’Administration &
Ecole Polytechnique
 Elite political class
numbers less than 20,
000
 Grand Corps now
important in  École Nationale
recruitment of business d'administration
elites  created in 1945 by Charles
de Gaulle to democratize
access to the senior civil
service.

21. IMPORTANCE OF GENDER
 Low representation of
women among French
political elites
 Political advancement
requires deep
investment in parties
 Segolene Royal
 Graduate of the ENA
 Member of the Council
of State
 Dearthof women’s
representation
recognized but not
addressed

22. OUTSIDERS HAVE EXTREME
DIFFICULTY IN
PENETRATING THE FRENCH
POLITICAL AND BUSINESS
ELITE