Political Parties In France
France has a multi-party political system, that is to say one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that in order to participate in the exercise of power any single party must be prepared to negotiate with one or more others with a view to forming electoral alliances and/or coalition agreements.
The dominant French political parties are also characterized by a noticeable degree of intra-party factionalism, making each of them effectively a coalition in itself.
Since the 1980s, the government of France has alternated between two rather stable coalitions:
- on the centre-left, one led by the Socialist Party and with minor partners such as Europe Ecology – The Greens, the Left Party, and the Radical Party of the Left.
- on the centre-right, one led by the Union for a Popular Movement and previously its predecessors Rally for the Republic and the Union for French Democracy, with support from the New Centre.
It is difficult for parties outside these two major coalitions to make significant inroads, although the National Front has had sizable successes.
Read more about Political Parties In France: Major Regionalist Parties, Political Parties in French Overseas Possessions
Famous quotes containing the words political, parties and/or france:
“History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.”
—Milton Friedman (b. 1912)
“Friendship takes place between those who have an affinity for one another, and is a perfectly natural and inevitable result. No professions nor advances will avail.... It is a drama in which the parties have no part to act.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is not what France gave you but what it did not take from you that was important.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)