This special issue of West European Politics represents a modest contribution to the growing and increasingly complex debate about the nature of policy and political consensus and cleavage in France of the Fifth Republic. Whilst it does not pretend to be in any sense exhaustive it nevertheless raises the central issues of the number, type, intensity and political and electoral saliency of cleavages and how they may be disguised, shifted and diluted. A number of points appear to emerge from the following articles: that the view of France as divided into two warring camps—les deux Frances—has a long history, but has rarely, if ever, accurately portrayed the complex reality (Douglas Johnson); that the growing acceptance of the present regime and of its political institutions and procedures does not preclude some nagging doubts about its inner democratic legitimacy (John Frears); that whilst there is increasing consensus at the mass level for the desirability of policies such as ‘Europe’, ‘national independence’, ‘decentralization’, ‘social justice’, and ‘planning’ there is little real agreement on the substance and implementation of such policies (various authors); that there persists at the mass level a radical and dissentient anti-system culture which, though electorally marginalized, finds expression in other forms (Jack Hayward); that politically significant issues such as the protection of the environment and the furtherance of women’s rights remain non-salient in national elections (Vincent Wright); that growing policy consensus does not preclude sharp political conflict, and that, for example, wide agreement on almost all issues amongst the voters for the parties of the ruling coalition does not prevent bitter disputes between the leaders of those parties; that there exist deep differences on fundamental issues such as economic policy (Diana Green) or defence policy (Dorothy Pickles) between the political elites belonging to the same coalition; that politically opposing elites such as the Gaullists and the Communists subscribe to similar views (not always shared by their respective allies) on important policy areas such as Europe, nuclear energy policy, and the need for a strong State; that there exist areas of complicity—such as local government (Howard Machin) and higher education (Ezra Suleiman)—between all the opposing political elites; that political cleavage within the elites in such bodies as the administration may be blurred or diluted by other more salient cleavages (Ann Stevens); that political elites which may be in fundamental and open disagreement continue to be squeezed, by the bipolarizing pressures of the electoral system, into two fragile and acrimonious electoral coalitions (Vincent Wright).
CITATION STYLE
Wright, V. (2024, January 1). Introduction. Conflict and Consensus in France. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.1981.240.3.c91
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