English-language Poli Sci analysis of French election

A new blog, 500 Signatures, written in English by two French academic political scientists, has begun publishing lengthy articles on the race. This source seems likely to provide some of the more interesting analysis of the polling data. 

No Class Thursday March 22 (alternate assignment)

We will not meet as a class on Thursday March 22. As an alternate assignment, please read during class time (or for 90 minutes at some other time next week) the book by Alain Badiou, The Meaning of Sarkozy and/or watch the film "The Conquest" (viewable on DVD in Lied Library Media Reserve (1st floor).

Study questions will be posted on Piazza We will discuss this book and view parts of the film in class the following week.)

You may also use the additional time to work on your essays on De Gaulle's conception of the state which are due on Thursday March 29.

French campaign suspended

The campaign has been suspended for a few days in response to the tragedies of shootings in Toulouse, first of three off-duty soldiers and then this morning of a school teacher, his two young sons and a student at a Jewish school also in Toulouse.

Germany is electing a president, too

This essay on the next President of the German Repblic notes that the office is elected by the lower house of the legislature plus representatives of the 16 German states and the office is primarily rhetorical, "the conscience of the nation."

NYTimes: Can Joachim Gauck Make Germany Likable? http://nyti.ms/ymKATj

What is the role of a president in a representative democracy

This question is a central one for our course, with its focus to this point being on competing conceptions of the state in the French republics up to and (starting next week including) the 5th Republic.

Here is a very interesting article on the American presidency, influenced by recent work in Political Science, that asks the question in a slightly different way -- instead of asking as we have if the president should be a proponent of policies that express  the will of the "Nation" or if the president should express the "reasons of state" and fulfill the need for continuity and order outside the legislative process, this article asks if the president should be a rhetorical leader who tries to guide the country, and its elected representatives in the legislature, to a certain consensus that can be expressed in legislation or whether the president should be a broker of interests within the legislature which would otherwise never come to consensus. It also introduces a concept we will discuss extensively in the next few weeks, the role of parties in a presidential system (or, conversely, the role of the president in a political system dominated by parties).

Its worth reading and considering although outside our direct topic and thus not a required reading for HIST 362.

2nd essay topic (due March 29)

The second essay topic is available here (PDF);  the essay is due by email or in class on March 29.

Some humor for those who read French.

Some humor for those in the class who read French.

French campaign finance laws

Summarized in English (thanks to Art Goldhammer)

Summary of presidential election campaign to date

Sarkozy struggling to turn French election tide - FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012 - FRANCE 24

Data on Jewish voting and opinions on Sarkozy

French political sociologists have much less data to work with than American counterparts because of.legal and cultural inhibitions on collecting data by "ethnic" or "racial" origins. But this blog post summarizes findings of a survey of French Jews on their voting preferences in 2002 and 2007 and their views. Sarkozy since 2007.

Le vote juif

Hollande promises an "impartial presidency"

Francois Hollande have a speech promising an " Impartial Presidency" which Art Goldhammer explains to be a distinction from Sarkozy's "partisan presidency." How do these concepts correspond to the concepts of the "jacobin state" and the "bonapartist state" we have been discussing in class?

TV and radio coverage of French Presidential candidates subject to "equal time" rules

This article described the rules governing tv and radio.coveerage of French presidential candidates, which require proportional air time for all candidates.

As French Candidates Speak, the Meter Is Running