French Politics,Culture, & Society

(4 Credits)

This course explores understanding modern French political life within the constitutional frameworks that have been in place since the beginning of the Third Republic. Three themes run through the entire course. 1) The importance of institutional and partisan structures in French politics: the role of the president; the electoral system; partisan organizations. 2) The forces of transformation and novelty: nationalism or internationalism, voter turnout, political mobilizations. 3) The exceptional or ordinary character of French political life compared to that of other Western parliamentary democracies.