history 172 – modern france
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History 172 – Modern France. Pluralising the Republic. Outline. The decline of the far left Pluralising the Republic. Anti-totalitarians, 1970s. 1968 Far left component (Maoist, Trotskyite) Libertarian as well Esprit – Journal with anti-totalitarian slant - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
History 172 – Modern France
Pluralising the Republic
Outline
• The decline of the far left
• Pluralising the Republic
Anti-totalitarians, 1970s
• 1968– Far left component (Maoist, Trotskyite) – Libertarian as well– Esprit – Journal with anti-totalitarian slant– Communism less attractive in the wake of
Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago– Still, a highly technocratic state throughout the
1970s, managed by politically appointed énarques– (École nationale de l’Administration)
Giscard
Valéry Giscard D’Estaing (1974-1981)
• 1973 – Oil crisis / recession– Stagflation: contradicted economic theory– Attempts to lower inflation increased unemployment
• Giscard – to the left of most British and American centre-right parties
• Promoted fusion of state-subsidized companies to compete internationally
• Shift to nuclear power– Today, France gets 75% of its power this way
Gradual turn to market economy
• Markets as autonomous forces
• Politics must adapt to those forces, rather than directing them (a retreat from dirigisme)
• France embarked on selective dirigisme: support the strong with state subsidies, allow or force the weak to perish: 70% increase in company bankruptcies after 1974.
Main winners of economic policies
• Large agriculture
• Energy companies
• Telephone/communications
• Train / airlines
Losers
• Small farmers and businesses
• Industrial labour– Unemployment rises– Benefits and retraining: offered only after vigorous
strikes
Mitterrand Years (1981-1994)First victory of Socialists in Fifth Republic
Euphoria upon election – dancing in the streets
Fears that ‘Russian tanks will soon be rolling through the streets of Paris’ (Cold War)
Who was he?
• As student at Sciences Po, active in right-leaning parties in mid 1930s associated with the Croix-de-feu (quasi-fascist group)
• Capture by Germans. Developed left-leaning sympathies in prison camp, which he eventually escaped from
• Joined Vichy government but supported resistance
Who was he?
• Active in parties of the left in 1950s
• Held ministerial positions
• Deeply committed to keeping Algeria French
• Tried to profit from 1968, but people saw through this
Mitterrand - 1970s
• Seen as an opportunist
• Slowly, methodically, cunningly, he pried Communist supporters towards Socialist party
• Came close to winning presidency in 1974
• Won in 1981
Early policies
• Raised minimum wage• 5 week holidays• 39 hour work week• Super tax• Increase of social benefits and employee
rights• At odds with other countries who were
moving headlong into market economics
Reversals
Anti-inflationAusterity
Move towards European economic unionMaastricht Treaty 1992 – free trade zone
Cordial with Thatcher: ‘Eyes of Caligula, mouth of Marilyn Monroe’
Political economy of France since 1980s
• Further move away from dirigisme
• 2000s: Privatizations
• Political effects: Front national (FN) benefits from economic stresses and failure of mainstream parties to alleviate them
Pluralism
Bidonvilles
Aubervilliers, 1970
HLM: public housing initiatives
Bidonvilles
Bidonville, Nanterre
HLM
HLM
Problems
• Isolation from other socio-economic groups
• Undermined republican ‘assimilation’ ideals
• Boredom, unemployment, violence
• Clashes with police, revolts
Veil politics
• 1989 – banned in schools– Left and far-right cametogether on banning them– Attempts to build mosques in 1980s – vehemently
resisted by many French people– Why wear scarves?• Forced or a choice?
– Left finds new agenda: culture rather than class– Algerian Civil War in 1990s: veil=Islam=terrorism
World Cup, 1998
• Banlieue / city boundaries break down for an evening
• Racism defied by victory – Le Pen silent
• Pasqua laws of early 1990s / ‘sans-papiers’ debate– Children of foreign born parents not automatically
given French nationality– Stricter residency rules
French Riots 2005Second generation immigrants
Arab, North African, Blacks
Nearly 3000 arrested
9000 cars destroyed
274 towns affected