World News: The Dangerously Deserted Arena of French Leadership
- Details
- Category: World News - Europe
- Published on Tuesday, 18 June 2019 07:12
- Written by Olivier Longhi
The emptiness of the political speeches of the great French parties, incapable of apprehending contemporary changes, left the field open to two opponents, LREM and Rassemblement National, locked in a Manichean debate dangerous for the Republic.
In the aftermath of the European elections, which have not ceased to upset Europe by their results, here in France, pillars of the presidential party, The Republic On March (LREM) are concerned about the bi-polarization of the French political life, putting face to face the National Rally and LREM.
(Read lemonde.fr: https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2019/06/15/lagrande-peur-de-l-republique-en-marche-face-au-angerange-national-assembly_5476625_823448. html)
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However, it appears that the fear nourished by the presidential party is legitimate as the opponents of substitution, Socialist Party, Republicans, France Insubord or Europe Ecology the Greens, despite their score in the last election, now seem too weak to propose a credible alternative to the two dominant parties the French political chessboard.
Default or Membership?
Several reasons could explain this situation which is not hexagonal in fine because many countries in the world (Great Britain, Italy, United States, Hungary, ...) are confronted with the rise of power of the populisms, but the French case is particularly atypical because nobody would have imagined that the extreme right could represent such a political force, such a counterweight to the doors of power.
But, and that's where the question comes up, is it really? While it is clear that certain segments of the population are drawn without restraint or complexity by the radical and xenophobic discourse of the extreme right, a large majority of them still prefer silence and abstention.
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More simply, Rassemblement National and LREM became majority parties by default and not by total and absolute adherence to the proposed speech, at least for the second. The emptiness and poverty of the programs proposed both by the Republicans, torn between social conservatism and asynchronous liberalism, and by the Socialist Party, converted to social democracy without finding the social and progressive essence, (Lire lesechos.fr: https: / /www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/politique/olivier-faure-le-discours-de-philippe-desmots-de-gauche-et-des-measures-de-right-1028621) contribute to the desertion of a electorate often disillusioned or tired of sterile and outdated oppositions that the XXIth returned to the archives of the Fifth Republic.
And leaning in the speeches proposed by LREM, made to be converted with caution to ecology, or those of the National Gathering pathologically gangrened by the fear of the other and the decline that it is the only one to perceive, the we can also see the weakness and the intellectual drought of the ideologues of these two parties.
Vision and Fighters
Only a drama is needed: No solar vision and ambitious today comes to animate the national political debate, leaving the mediocrity all the time to permeate speeches often far from factual realities.
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However, the report is there: LREM and RN clash alone in a political arena deserted for lack of valid fighters or able to raise the level of debate. General De Gaulle, who had conceived the Fifth Republic as the space of the bipolarization of political life, between right and left, imagined then a political universe pulled up by debates that took part in the social, economic and political construction from France. Admittedly, the spirit of the 1958 Constitution is respected and bipolarization is still in question but the report is there: no current debate pulls the Republic up. Worse!
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The latter would even tend to tarnish the republican spirit by syphoning all forms of debates, by avoiding all forms of exchanges not voluntarily but by the first convenient occupation then maintained of the political vacuum left by incompetent competitors. But once the statement is made, what should be done? The solutions are multiple and it is up to each one to advance his. Notice to fans ...
Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.
