Franco-American street

A Quick Guide for Americans to Understand French Politics

Par Grant Rosenberg | Journaliste | 17/05/2007 | 20H45

In the nearly two weeks since Sarkozy's election, I've had numerous conversations with friends and family in the U.S. about the French political scene. The shorthand on Sarkozy is that he's the French Bush. Some of this comes -as does the sense that he's Giuliani-esque, due to his reputation as being tough on crime and delinquency. But the « French Bush » description is too easy, and it's not quite accurate either.

In France, the Socialist Party (PS, or Parti socialiste) is the major left-of-center party, so it makes sense for an American to see them as the Democrats. Likewise, the ruling party, the UMP (Union pour un mouvement populaire, or « Union for a Popular Movement »), is the major right-of-center party, which logically means they are like the Republicans in the U.S. But this isn't quite true, because Americans largely view their political candidates through social issues such as abortion, gay rights, gun control, environment, etc. That along with one's position on tax cuts, is what defines a candidate's position as being conservative or liberal, left or right.

On that spectrum, the major French political figures are already further to the left. The UMP is pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-civil unions, anti-gun and very pro-environment, with Sarkozy talking up the French equivalent of affirmative action. Plus they view the mixing of church and state as anathema and they support national health care. Sounds kinda democratty, no ?

Indeed, during the 2004 American presidential election, UMP representatives attended the Democratic National convention, not the Republican one. Though the UMP and the Republican Party may share views about a market economy, taxes, foreign policy and even overlap on immigration, on the French political spectrum, today's Republican party is probably somewhere between the UMP and the MPF, the traditionalist party of Philippe de Villiers, if only in terms of his emphasis on family values, important to so many conservative American voters. But the de Villiers comparison is ultimately unfair to the Republican party given his reputation as an Islamophobe, to say nothing of his relatively minor influence on the national scene (his party garnered less than three percent of the vote). It just goes to show how making French-American political comparisons is an imperfect science.

However, Sarkozy and the rest of the UMP party are, in American terminology, fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which probably describes the average American voter. In other words, kind of like California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wait a minute…Sarkozy and Schwarzenegger embodying the average Joe American's politics ? Maybe these foreigners are onto something…

Bonus « inside baseball » explanation about all these political parties : While the core of the PS has been around since 1905, it was originally called the SFIO (an acronym that translated to « French Section of the Workers » International »), becoming the PS in 1969.

The UMP, founded in 2002, is the latest of some half-dozen incarnations of Gaullism, the political movement of Charles de Gaulle in the wake of WWII. In fact, it's more like version 8.0 if we count the short-lived ones between his well-known leadership of the Free French during the German Occupation and when he became president thirteen years later of the new Fifth Republic.

For Americans, living in the first and only republic we've ever had (with a close call there during the Civil War, though), it's bizarre that the two dominant political forces could go through so many different names and incarnations. After all, we've exclusively had Democrats and Republicans running the show ever since the Whigs were run out of town. Yet the French change and create new political parties as often as consumer product companies revamp their websites.

Even the major third-party candidate François Bayrou who came in third in last month's first voting round has decided to start a new party. But after much fanfare and enthusiasm following his strong showing in the first round, the new party's success in next month's legislative elections is in question after so many of his supporters have subsequently rallied around Sarkozy.

Coming soon : A Franco-American Political Lexicon to explore some of the words and expressions floating around French discourse.

A lire :
Précis de politique française à destination des Américains
La version française de l'article de Grant Rosenberg.

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21H40 | 17/05/2007 |

One critical difference between French and American political institutions should be mentioned : after the June legislative polls, there will probably not exist any counterpower to the President's control on France, such as the role played by the Congress in the USA.