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
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History 172 – Modern France
Pluralising the Republic
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Outline
• The decline of the far left
• Pluralising the Republic
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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)
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Giscard
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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
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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.
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Main winners of economic policies
• Large agriculture
• Energy companies
• Telephone/communications
• Train / airlines
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Losers
• Small farmers and businesses
• Industrial labour– Unemployment rises– Benefits and retraining: offered only after vigorous
strikes
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Reversals
Anti-inflationAusterity
Move towards European economic unionMaastricht Treaty 1992 – free trade zone
Cordial with Thatcher: ‘Eyes of Caligula, mouth of Marilyn Monroe’
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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
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Pluralism
Bidonvilles
Aubervilliers, 1970
HLM: public housing initiatives
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Bidonvilles
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Bidonville, Nanterre
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HLM
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HLM
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Problems
• Isolation from other socio-economic groups
• Undermined republican ‘assimilation’ ideals
• Boredom, unemployment, violence
• Clashes with police, revolts
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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
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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
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French Riots 2005Second generation immigrants
Arab, North African, Blacks
Nearly 3000 arrested
9000 cars destroyed
274 towns affected