Table of Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations Preface CHAPTER 1 Introduction: The End of French Exceptionalism France: Changing Yet Steadfast France and Europe France as a Power Economic and Social Problems in France Today France as It Really Is Endnotes CHAPTER 2 Political Culture and Public Attitudes Four Images of France on Which to MeditateFrench "Exceptionalism": History and Genealogy The Fading of French Exceptionalism: Decline or Renewal? The Legitimate Republic: One Thousand Years in the Making Watershed: The Eclipse of Marxism in French Political CultureThe Muting of Class and Class Conflict French Youth and the Political Culture Religion and the Political Culture Immigrants, the Problem of Racism and the Question of French National Identity The Changing Political Culture of French Protest After Exceptionalism, What? Endnotes CHAPTER 3 The Logic of French Institutions The Fifth Republics Institutions The President and the OthersPresident and Prime Minister: Ambiguity and the Threat of Anarchy The Nature and Future of "Cohabitation" The Condition of Parliament in the Fifth RepublicThe Senate The National Assembly The European Parliament and FrenchParliamentary LifeJudicial Review: France Changes, but SlowlyDecentralization: A Socialist or a French Success? Mitterrands Constitutional Reforms On Using the Referendum Well or Badly Maastricht and French Institutions ConclusionEndnotesCHAPTER 4 Political Parties: The Centering of Right and Left Consensus or Impotence? French Parties TodayThe Presidential Parties: PS, RPR, and UDF The Nonpresidential Parties Conclusion Endnotes CHAPTER 5 Elections and Electoral Strategies Ambiguous Majorities: The Gaming of Presidential and Parliamentary Elections The Logic of French ElectionsAs the Partisan Wheel Turns Rising Abstentions: A Normal Aspect of Recenteredness? The European Parliament and French Parties Elections, Centrism, and Consensus The 1993 Parliamentary Elections and Cohabitation Conclusion Endnotes CHAPTER 6 Interests and GroupsThe French "Partenaires Sociaux" and the Single European Market French Business Today and the German Model Workers and the Decline of Labor Unions French Farmers, the CAP and the GATT SOS-Racism: Human Rights Activism in the Post-Marxian Age Conclusion Endnotes

Reviews

"Howard J. Wiarda is Professor of Political Science and the Leonard J. Horowitz Professor of Iberian and Latin American Politics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. A longtime associate of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, Professor Wiarda was also editor of the political science journal Polity and director of Latin American studies centers in Amherst and Washington. Professor Wiarda has directed international affairs programs in several Washington think tanks, and was lead consultant to the National Bipartisan (Kissinger) Commission on Central America. He served by nomination of the President of the United States on several White House task forces and advisory panels, and has been a consultant to various foreign policy-making agencies of the U.S. government. Professor Wiarda is best known for his writing and edited volumes on Latin America, Europe, and comparative and foreign policy studies, including NEW DIRECTIONS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS, AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, U.S. FOREIGN AND STRATEGIC POLICY IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA, CORPORATISM AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS, POLITICS IN IBERIA: THE POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, LATIN AMERICA POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT, and FOREIGN POLICY WITHOUT ILLUSION: HOW FOREIGN POLICY WORKS AND DOESN'T WORK IN THE UNITED STATES."