TY - BOOK AU - Hanley,David TI - Party, Society, Government: Republican Democracy in France T2 - Contemporary France SN - 9781789204100 AV - JN2997 .H36 2002 U1 - 320.944 21 PY - 2002///] CY - New York, Oxford PB - Berghahn Books KW - Democracy KW - France KW - Political parties KW - Politics, Practical KW - Social choice KW - Political aspects KW - POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Parties KW - bisacsh N1 - Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; LIST OF TABLES --; FIGURES --; PREFACE --; ABBREVIATIONS --; INTRODUCTION Parties and Party Systems in the Political Development of France --; 1 THE PROBLEM OF REPRESENTATION Party as Actor or Reflector? --; 2 THE THIRD REPUBLIC Matrix of the Modern Party System --; 3 THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND THE BEGINNINGS OF A PARTY SYSTEM Political Forces After 1870 --; 4 THE MATURING OF THE PARTY SYSTEM, 1876–1914 --; 5 FROM COMFORT TO CRISIS? The Party System Between the Wars --; 6 THE FOURTH REPUBLIC Nadir of Party? --; 7 HUMILIATION AND RECOVERY Parties in the Fifth Republic --; 8 PARTY AND SOCIETY A Politics of Partial Accomodation? --; BIBLIOGRAPHY --; INDEX; restricted access N2 - According to received wisdom parties have played a mainly destructive role in French political development. Of questionable legitimacy, pursuing narrow sectarian goals, often corruptly, they have brought about division, weakness and the collapse of regimes. A proper reading of history suggests differently. By combining historical research and contemporary political science theory about party, the author shows that for over a century party has irrigated French democracy in often invisible ways, brokering working compromises between groups divided strongly along social, political and cultural lines. The key to this success is the party system, which allowed for a high degree of collusion and cooptation between political elites, rhetoric notwithstanding. This hidden logic has persisted to this day despite the advent of presidentialism and remains the key to the continuing prosperity of French democracy UR - https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789204100?locatt=mode:legacy UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781789204100 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781789204100/original ER -