Monday, April 30, 2012
National Front voters consider the second round
Interesting set of interviews in France24 with 5 very different men (no women) from an economically depressed former mining town who voted for Marine Le Pen in the first round and now consider their options. Note in particular the diversity of economic and political backgrounds
Monday, April 23, 2012
Great moments in French presidential debates
Throughout the Ve Republic, there has been a tradition of the two finalists in a presidential election confronting each other in a televised debate. These are, compared to American presidential debates, very unstructured, allowing the candidates to address each other directly, interrupt each other and, on occasion, score one-liners that have become well known moments that defined the candidates and the election. The National Audio-visual Institute of France (ina.fr) has posted video of the entire debates and highlights of some of the great moments in French presidential debate history.
Third writing assignment
The third and final writing assignment is due Tuesday May 8 by noon, either by email (attachment) or in hard copy to my office (WRI B 317), in lieu of an in-class final.
This assignment is either
1. a revision of one or both of your earlier essays
2. a new essay of five to seven pages on the 2012 election campaign -- that can be on any candidate, party or issue -- that allows you to demonstrate the presence of either the Jacobin or the Bonapartist/Gaullist conception of the state in the current French political landscape.
3. an essay of five to seven pages on either of the documents we studied concerning the 2007 campaign. You may write on the film The conquest or the Badiot book, The True Meaning of Sarkozy, and address whether or not you find these documents (either or both) to be more about the personal attributes of Nicholas Sarkozy as a man, of the attributes of the directly elected presidency as an institution, or of the Republic as a democratic form of government?
Note that class will not meet on Thursday April 27, to allow you time to work on your third assignment.
This assignment is either
1. a revision of one or both of your earlier essays
2. a new essay of five to seven pages on the 2012 election campaign -- that can be on any candidate, party or issue -- that allows you to demonstrate the presence of either the Jacobin or the Bonapartist/Gaullist conception of the state in the current French political landscape.
3. an essay of five to seven pages on either of the documents we studied concerning the 2007 campaign. You may write on the film The conquest or the Badiot book, The True Meaning of Sarkozy, and address whether or not you find these documents (either or both) to be more about the personal attributes of Nicholas Sarkozy as a man, of the attributes of the directly elected presidency as an institution, or of the Republic as a democratic form of government?
Note that class will not meet on Thursday April 27, to allow you time to work on your third assignment.
Final first round results
Hollande 28.63 %, Sarkozy 27.18 %, Le Pen 17.9 %, Mélenchon 11,11 %, Bayrou 9.13%
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Hollande campaign effort to mobilize less-likely voters in left-leaning precincts
Research in 2010 suggests French voters born abroad (as well as those who have moved from provinces to Paris) are less likely to vote. Door-knocking campaign is seeking to get them to vote.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Looking Ahead to Sunday
Thanks to Art Goldhammer for an excellent presentation to our class and a very well-received Forum lecture Tuesday evening. Here is Art's comment on what to watch for in Sunday's first-round voting.
French Politics: Looking Ahead to Sunday.
Ordinarily projections of the results will be published upon the closing of the polls at 8pm Paris time (11am Las Vegas time); however, some news outlets may publish exit poll returns a few hours earlier, so if you are interested in getting the first results you should look about 9:30am).
French Politics: Looking Ahead to Sunday.
Ordinarily projections of the results will be published upon the closing of the polls at 8pm Paris time (11am Las Vegas time); however, some news outlets may publish exit poll returns a few hours earlier, so if you are interested in getting the first results you should look about 9:30am).
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Arthur Goldhammer visit April 17
HIST 362 will be graced next Tuesday with a visit by a leading scholar on French politics, Arthur Goldhammer of Harvard's Center for European Studies. He will speak with us about his chapter on French political parties, which is assigned reading and available from electronic reserve here (sign-in required).
After class on that day, he has agreed to meet informally with students interested in discussing further his work, the state of the election campaign and related topics. If you are interested in joining this informal conversation, please let me know via email before next Tuesday's class.
Tuesday evening, at 7:30pm, he will deliver a public lecture in the College of Liberal Arts Forum Lecture series, on the role of political parties in this year's campaign. All HIST 362 students are encouraged to attend and those who do and write a one-page summary as part of next week's reading log will receive extra credit towards their discussion grade.
After class on that day, he has agreed to meet informally with students interested in discussing further his work, the state of the election campaign and related topics. If you are interested in joining this informal conversation, please let me know via email before next Tuesday's class.
Tuesday evening, at 7:30pm, he will deliver a public lecture in the College of Liberal Arts Forum Lecture series, on the role of political parties in this year's campaign. All HIST 362 students are encouraged to attend and those who do and write a one-page summary as part of next week's reading log will receive extra credit towards their discussion grade.
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