Gaullism since de Gaulle

by Andrew Knapp

Gaullism has shaped France’s political system more than any other political force. It has also, contrary to many expectations, shown great resilience in surviving its founder. By the early 1990s, under the leadership of Jacques Chirac and Édouard Balladur, it appeared poised to regain the leading position in French politics it had enjoyed in the early years of the Fifth Republic. This is the first general study of Gaullism to appear for a generation and takes the party's survival for its central theme. Opening with a narrative approach that highlights the impact of personal rivalries on the party’s history since 1969, Andrew Knapp then analyses the underpinnings of its continued strength in its electoral appeal, its organisational strength, its role in government at both local and national level, and its changing ideology . The author concludes that while as a loose compendium of policies and ideas, Gaullism retains enough originality to distinguish it from orthodox European conservative parties, a key condition of its survival has been a paradoxical its partial transformation into a party of local notables, rooted in a tradition that structured French politics well before the arrival of de Gaulle.

528 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994