French Local Politics: A Statistical Examination of Grass Roots Consensus

Abstract

The study of French politics has traditionally focused on the central issues of consensus and cleavage. Titles of representative works on French politics are revealing: In Search of France, France Against Herself, Crisis and Compromise, and France Torn. A foremost scholarly concern has been to explain the high degree of political conflict in France. Numerous explanations have been suggested, ranging from France's history to her values, regional diversity, and electoral system. However, in attempting to learn about French political behavior, an important source of information has been ignored. French local political patterns contrast sharply with national political patterns: the contrast is relevant to understanding the issues of consensus and cleavage in France.There are nearly 38,000 communes in France. Each elects a municipal council, and each municipal council (except the one for Paris) elects a mayor; there are manifold opportunities to examine French local consensus. Scholars have studied certain issues in French local government, but not the question of local consensus. French electoral sociologists have examined temporal changes of local voting patterns in national elections. Beginning with André Siegfried's Tableau politique de la France d'ouest sous la troisième république, these studies have provided detailed information on cantonal and even communal voting behavior. However, studies in electoral sociology are concerned with the result of the voting decision rather than with its causes. They do not question how local cleavages in national elections develop or are maintained. Still less do they examine local politics; their focus is primarily on municipalities' national voting behavior.