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 A0/00douard 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 one: its partial transformation into a party of local notables, rooted in a tradition that structured French politics well before the arrival of de Gaulle.
- ISBN10 1855211823
- ISBN13 9781855211827
- Publish Date 28 October 1994
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 2 March 2017
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Dartmouth Publishing Co Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 528
- Language English