- The Oxford Handbook of French Politics
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on Contributors
- A Framework for a Comparative Politics of France
- Republicanism: a transatlantic misunderstanding
- The State Imperative
- The French Welfare System
- Identity, Culture, and Politics: the other and the self in France
- The French Way to Multi-Level Governance: governance with government
- The Europeanization of Public Policy in France: actor-centered approaches
- Globalization: French ambivalence as a critical case
- Executive Politics in France: from leader to laggard?
- Legislative Politics: going international, while staying native
- Constitutional Politics: the French case and theory-building
- Challenges to French Public Administration: mapping the vitality of its knowledge sources
- Regional and Local Government: interpreting territorial politics
- Political Representation: bringing elections back in
- How to Study Political Culture Without Naming It
- Explaining French Elections: the need to meet in the middle
- Parties and Party Systems: making the French sociocultural approach matter
- Political Communication: from international institutionalization to national conquest of scientific legitimacy
- Interest Groups: moving beyond state-centric models
- The Study of Social Movements in France: the “French touch” and a comparative contribution
- Women’s Movements and Feminism: French political sociology meets a comparative feminist approach
- National Identity in France: a blind spot
- French Economic Policy: theory development and the three “I”s
- Environmental and Energy Policy in France: a critical case for comparative political research?
- Gender Policy Studies: distinct, but making the comparative connection
- France and the Evolution of European Integration: the exemplary and pivotal case for broader theories
- Varieties of Capitalism: a distinctly French model?
- Defense and Security Policy: beyond French exceptionalism
- French Aid Through the Comparative Looking Glass: a representative, deviant, or agenda-setting case?
- Toward a Comparative Politics of France
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter reviews research done on French elections, focusing on presidential contests. Initially, the scientific literature on voting behavior, coming out of the Michigan Model, is looked at. Then, we bear down specifically on the French case, comparing the perspectives of French scholars, such as exploration of “heavy variables,” to the perspectives of non-French scholars, for example the search for general models. Attention is given also to the search for a Michigan Model à la française. The final part of the chapter considers the convergence between the two traditions of studying French elections, from different sides of the Atlantic. In conclusion, we see a “meeting in the middle,” with each tradition contributing to the understanding of electoral choice in France, via consideration of long-term forces such as patrimony, and short-term forces such as leader image. Lastly, we offer specific recommendations for further enhancement of French election surveys.
Keywords: French elections, presidential elections, voting behavior, patrimony, Michigan Model
Michael S. Lewis‐Beck is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Iowa.
Richard Nadeau is Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal. His interests are voting behavior, public opinion, political communication, and quantitative methodology. A Fulbright scholar and a former chief advisor to the Premier of Quebec, Professor Nadeau has authored or co-authored over 170 articles (published in the most prestigious political science journals), chapters, and books, including Le vote des Français de Mitterrand à Sarkozy, Unsteady State, Anatomy of a Liberal Victory, Citizens, French Presidential Elections, The Austrian Voter, Health Care Policy and Opinion in Canada and the United States, and Le comportement électoral des Québécois (Donald Smiley Award 2010).
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- The Oxford Handbook of French Politics
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on Contributors
- A Framework for a Comparative Politics of France
- Republicanism: a transatlantic misunderstanding
- The State Imperative
- The French Welfare System
- Identity, Culture, and Politics: the other and the self in France
- The French Way to Multi-Level Governance: governance with government
- The Europeanization of Public Policy in France: actor-centered approaches
- Globalization: French ambivalence as a critical case
- Executive Politics in France: from leader to laggard?
- Legislative Politics: going international, while staying native
- Constitutional Politics: the French case and theory-building
- Challenges to French Public Administration: mapping the vitality of its knowledge sources
- Regional and Local Government: interpreting territorial politics
- Political Representation: bringing elections back in
- How to Study Political Culture Without Naming It
- Explaining French Elections: the need to meet in the middle
- Parties and Party Systems: making the French sociocultural approach matter
- Political Communication: from international institutionalization to national conquest of scientific legitimacy
- Interest Groups: moving beyond state-centric models
- The Study of Social Movements in France: the “French touch” and a comparative contribution
- Women’s Movements and Feminism: French political sociology meets a comparative feminist approach
- National Identity in France: a blind spot
- French Economic Policy: theory development and the three “I”s
- Environmental and Energy Policy in France: a critical case for comparative political research?
- Gender Policy Studies: distinct, but making the comparative connection
- France and the Evolution of European Integration: the exemplary and pivotal case for broader theories
- Varieties of Capitalism: a distinctly French model?
- Defense and Security Policy: beyond French exceptionalism
- French Aid Through the Comparative Looking Glass: a representative, deviant, or agenda-setting case?
- Toward a Comparative Politics of France
- Index