FRENCH POLITICS AND POLICY GROUP NEWS
No.10/November 2009
FPG/APSA Coordinators: Amy G. Mazur and Andrew Appleton, Season Hoard (Assistant Coordinator),
Department of Political Science, Washington State University
e-mail: mazur@wsu.edu
Website: http://www.wsu.edu/~frg/
FPPG/PSA Coordinator: Ben Clift, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
e-mail: B.M.Clift@Warwick.ac.uk
Website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/clift/psafpp/
GREETINGS TO FPG MEMBERS
With 238 members from France, the USA, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Canada, Germany, Japan and the UK the FPG has had another active year. At this year’s APSA meetings in Toronto we had five panels, a short course and our late night reception, for a second year running thanks to the generosity of the French Embassy in the USA. Our collective work at previous APSA meetings have now led to three publications and a follow-up conference. We made our second award for the Stanley Hoffmann Best Article Award with the continued financial and administrative support of Sciences Po Paris and the AFSP. In light of the ever-increasing institutional permanence of the group and the length of our own tenure as coordinators since 2000, we will be conducting a search for a new leadership team this year (for more details see below). Special thanks this year go to François Rivasseau, James Shields, Michael Bosia, Ben Clift, Francesca Vassallo, Jean-Yves Dormagen, Eléonore Lepinard, Frank Baumgartner, Jocelyn Evans, Sophie Duschesne, Mark Vail, Marcos Ancelovici, Cornelia Wall, Nonna Mayer, Yves Deloye and Season Hoard.
Please read on for more details on our collective accomplishments and future activities. The first half of the newsletter is on the FPG-APSA and the second half includes news from the French Politics and Policy Group of the PSA-UK. Additional information about the two groups and their activities can also be found on their websites listed above. And as always, please do not hesitate to share with us your news, comments and questions.
Bien Cordialement,
Amy G. Mazur and Andrew Appleton
Thanks to two permanent panel slots from APSA and one additional slot from the theme section chairs, panel chairs willingness to propose to other sections, and division chairs agreement to co sponsor, we were able to sponsor five panels with the divisions of European Politics Society, Ethnicity and Politics and Elections and Voting Behavior. We include a list of the panel titles here. A detailed listing is available on our website and papers may be downloaded at the APSA website http://www.apsanet.org/.
The group also co sponsored a Short Course, organized by Michael Bosia (St. Michael’s College), A Taste for Sovereignty: Global and Local Change in the New Politics of Food, which was also co sponsored by the Canadian Politics Group.
Proposals for papers, panels and roundtables need to be submitted through the APSA web-based system by December 15th. You should also submit to the FPG coordinators your proposal by this deadline. Given our limited number of panel slots, a pre-requisite for all submissions is co-sponsorship, so please indicate your division cosponsor in your application. We will still accept proposals for individual papers, but we will give priority to complete panels and will place papers on preexisting panels, where possible. Consider submitting directly to the theme chairs if your panel fits well with this year’s theme. Last year, we were able to obtain an additional panel. Be sure to let us know you are doing this; we will also contact the theme program chairs on your behalf. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact us; we are happy to help you with the APSA web based submission system, which can be difficult to navigate.
Short Courses at APSA – Also remember the short course format at APSA. You can hold half day or day long workshops on a given topic the Wednesday prior to the conference. The deadline is not until mid March for this and short courses are automatically accepted. This is a great format for teaching workshops or coordinating a new or on-going project. We have held three short courses – one on teaching French Politics in 2005, a second one for the Fifth Republic at Fifty book in 2005, and a this year’s short course on the politics of food.
Inaugurated in 2004, the award is given each year for papers presented on French politics at the previous year’s meeting. Papers may be comparative as long as a significant part focuses on France. The committee, Marcos Ancelovici, McGill University (Chair), Mark Vail, Tulane University, and Cornelia Woll, CERI-Sciences Po, selected the following winner:
Simon Bornschier, University of Zurich, Switzerland for his paper, "Social Structure, Collective Identity, and Agency in the Formation of a New Cultural Divide: Why a Right-Wing Populist Party Emerged in France but not in Germany"
The paper was selected from a pool of 34 papers. The selection was based on the schedule of the French Politics Group at the 2008 APSA meeting and a search in the APSA database for papers that included “France” in their abstracts. The committee’s ranking was based on the following three criteria: (1) originality and scope; (2) quality of the data and methods; and (3) overall clarity and structure of the paper. On this basis, we each selected three top papers and six additional papers for a second round.
After long discussions, and among several strong papers that the committee considered, Simon’s paper clearly stood out as the winner. It is theoretically and empirically ambitious, innovative, methodologically sophisticated, and well written and argued. As with most interesting arguments, we do not agree with all his conclusions and have some reservations: for example, we would have liked the author to discuss the weight of the Nazi past, have some concerns about the coding categories that he uses and debated the connections between the methodology used and the theoretical argument. Nonetheless, the paper makes a stimulating and provocative contribution to classical debates on party systems and cleavages while also including recent developments on the agency of actors in the transformation of the political space.
Co-sponsored by the FPG and the journal, French Politics, Culture & Society, the award was first made in 1993 and is given every three years. The next award will be given in 2011 for dissertations published between 2008 and 2010. Previous winners include:
See our website for complete versions of some of the dissertations.
With permanent financial support from Science Po-Paris and administrative support from the Association Française de Science Politique, the second award was made this year. Awarded on a semi annual basis, the Stanley Hofmann Prize is given for the best English-language article published in a refereed journal on French Politics. Articles may be on any aspect of French Politics and the selection committee makes its choice from articles published in 139 journals. Articles published in 2007 and 2008 were considered for the 2009 award. Awardees receive 1900 euros and are required to accept the award at the annual APSA meeting the year the award is made. Frank Baumgartner (Penn State University); Jocelyn Evans (University of Salford); Sophie Duschesne (CEVIPOF) served on the award committee.
Following an extensive consideration of a pool of 181 articles, the prize committee selected the following winner:
Eliza Ferguson (University of New Mexico) “Domestic Violence by Another Name: Crimes of Passion in Fin-de-Siècle Paris” Journal of Women's History. Volume 19, Number 4, Winter 2007.
For the list of reviews consulted and abstracts of the 233 articles considered go to our website.
Coming out of an APSA Short Course sponsored by the FPG in 2006, the book, The French Fifth Republic at Fifty: Beyond Stereotypes, will be published by Palgrave in 2008 (http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=318913). Under the combined editorship of Svlvain Brouard, Andrew Appleton and Amy Mazur, the book is the culmination of the highly collaborative and international nature of the FPG more broadly speaking.
A follow-up conference was held at Sciences Po Bordeaux, co sponsored with WSU, in early 2009 to further the international dialog about research on the Fifth Republic, The French Fifth Republic in A Comparative Perspective: The State of the Field and Future Research Agenda. The goal of the conference was to use this bookbut also other publications as the forthcoming special issue of West European Politics, as a starting point for systematic discussion about the state of the study of the French Fifth Republic, both inside and outside of France, and the emerging international research agenda. The following questions were addressed:
Participants discussed these questions across the following three areas, each with a separate roundtable: Decision-making Institutions, Party Systems & Electoral Systems, State-Society Relations & Republican Ideology. A keynote presentation was given by Robert Elgie (Dublin City University) on Maurice Duverger’s work and legacy in comparative politics. Other participants included, Martial Focault (University of Montréal), Emiliano Grossman (CEVIPOF), Vincent Hofmann-Martinot (Sciences Po Bordeaux), Sylvain Brouard (Science Po Bordeaux), Jocelyn Evans (University of Salford), Amy Mazur (Washington State University), André Blais (University of Montréal), Yves Surel (Sciences Po Paris), Olivier Costas (Sciences Po Bordeaux), Cornell Clayton (Washington State University) Eric Kerrouche ( Science Po Bordeaux), Richard Baume (Sciences Po Paris), Nicholas Sauger (CEVIPOF), Roberto Magni-Berton (Sciences Po Bordeaux) and Andrew Appleton (Washington State University).
For the complete proceedings of the conference see the forthcoming issue of French Politics for copies of the special issue on the Fifth Republic in WEP go to http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g909449265~db=all
The following resources are available on the FPG website:
In the context of the institutionalization of the French Politics Group and the long tenure of the current leadership team at Washington State University – since 2000—we will be undergoing a search for new coordinators for the group to be put into place after next year’s APSA meeting in Boston. A call was sent out this Fall to all FPG members outlining specific administrative obligations and the new team will be announced at APSA—Washington D.C. The major criteria for selection will be the capacity to maintain and further develop current FPG activities. For more information, contact Amy Mazur.
The Department of Politics, History and International Relations (PHIR) at Loughborough University has one studentship available for PhD study with effect from 1 December 2009. We invite and welcome proposals in any aspect of contemporary France (politics, culture, society). The studentship will fund one student for 3 years at the standard home (UK) rate. Interested students should aim to send us their applications by the first week of November 2009 and in the first instance can contact Dr Helen Drake (h.p.drake@lboro.ac.uk). Application/proposal forms and information on the application process are available at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/eu/studying/research/admissions-procedure.html Our department has a thriving community of PhD students in well-equipped premises, and an enviable completion rate.
The FPP Group participated in a very successful workshop at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University on 23 January 2009 organised by Dr Christian Schweiger. It involved the German, Italian and Greek Politics PSA Groups. Our Group’s panel – on France and EU Enlargement - included the following contributions:
In the wake of this successful event, Ben Clift and David Howarth are collaborating on more research and writing on France and EU Enlargement.
The group cosponsored a drinks reception organised by Amy and the French Politics Group of the American Political Science Association.
The Group has sponsored three panels for the forthcoming Edinburgh PSA Conference. We have yet to hear whether they have been accepted onto the programme.
1. Jim Shields has organized a roundtable entitled: The Sarkozy Presidency: Continuity or Change in France?’
This roundtable panel will assess the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy as he passes the mid-point of his five-year mandate. It will reflect on how far the Sarkozy presidency can be said to constitute a new departure in presidential governance in France, and will examine a number of key areas: leadership, media management, political economic strategy, political radicalisation, and France’s relations with the European Union.
Participants:
Prof James Shields, Aston University (Chair) The Sarkozy campaign and presidency: redrawing boundaries on the French right
Prof Alistair Cole, Cardiff University Sarkozy’s Political Leadership
Prof Raymond Kuhn, Queen Mary University of London‘Les médias, c’est moi.’ Presidential media management in Sarkozy’s France
Dr Ben Clift, University of Warwick Rhetoric and reality in Sarkozy’s political economy
Dr Helen Drake, Loughborough University Sarkozy, France and ‘political Europe’
2. David Howarth has organized a panel entitled ' The EU-15, political economy of social Europe, and EU Enlargement: France in comparative Perspective’
This panel looks at the dynamics of EU enlargement in terms of the changing political economy of Europe. Focusing primarily on labour market and social policy issues, the panellists explore how the nature of ‘social Europe’ is changing as the EU expands. This panel problematises the notion of convergence towards a singular ‘European Social Model’ through comparative analysis of how labour market and social policies (and the discourses which surround them) are evolving both in the 'old' EU-15 (and especially france) and in the 'new' EU member states. Enlargement has made the notion of a single European social model a more remote prospect. Thus the convenient organising concept encompasses a forbiddingly complex reality.
Participants:
‘Flexicurity and the politics of work in the EU: a case study of France and Poland’
Susan Milner, University of Bath
‘EU Eastward Enlargement and the Politics of Human Resources Strategies’
Georg Menz, Goldsmiths College
‘Explaining EU-15 Support for Enlargement: Spreading Welfare Protection Norms’ Maurits van der Veen, University of Georgia, USA
France and EU enlargement: Rising ambivalence on market integration in the EU-27
Ben Clift (University of Warwick) & David Howarth (University of Edinburgh)
3. Alistair Cole has organized a panel entitled ‘The State of the State (in France)’
If the State is everywhere undergoing processes of transformation and reshaping, this movement has a particular significance in France. Since the 1990s, the prevailing intellectual frame amongst scholars in various countries has been one of state crisis, typically interpreted in terms of the retreat, or the ‘hollowing out’ of the state, challenged from above (by European integration and globalization) from below (by devolution and decentralisation) from within (by administrative reforms) and horizontally (by networks and new forms of policy delivery such as public private partnerships). The panel addresses the need for an ongoing political sociology of the State. The sovereign nation-state has indeed been challenged in recent decades by trans-national and international pressures. Yet, from a longue durée perspective, the state has shown remarkable persistence, due to a combination of extraordinary flexibility and theoretical and organizational continuity and permanency. The panel will address these inter-related questions by focusing on various dimensions including: Elites and the State in France (Jean-Michel Eymeri Douzans, Toulouse); the State and its Territories (Alistair Cole, Cardiff), and ‘ The French State and the European Union: Lessons from the French EU Council Presidency, July-December 2008’ (Helen Drake, Loughborough). The panel will present a set of succinct papers synthesizing specific aspects of state reform, identifying core challenges of state capacity building and underlying continuities beyond state reshaping. Kenneth Dyson will act as discussant.
The Group sponsored two successful panels at the 2009 Manchester PSA Conference.
FRENCH POLITICAL ECONOMY: Economic Patriotism and Economic Policy .
Owen Parker (University of Warwick) Challenging ‘new constitutionalism’ in the EU: French resistance, ‘social Europe’ and ‘soft’ governance
Ben Clift (University of Warwick) French Economic Patriotism: Legislative, Regulatory, & Discursive Dimensions
Emiliano Grossman (Sciences-Po Paris) & Cornelia Woll (Sciences-Po Paris) The French and the Bolkestein Directive: economic policy and public opinion
Roundtable: The Fifth Republic at Fifty
Chair & Discussant: Ben Clift
At its inception, a time of great political upheaval in France, it was uncertain whether the new regime would last five years, let alone fifty. The longevity of the regime is due in part to its flexibility and adaptability, which is one theme explored in this roundtable. The roundtable explores some of the interesting patterns and dynamics of change and continuity within the French Republic over the last 50 years.
Participants and their contribution titles:-
The French Party System, French Electoral Behaviour, and the French fifth Republic
Jocelyn Evans (Salford)
Governance and Governing in Fifth Republic France Alistair Cole (Cardiiff)
The Fifth Republic – its political institutions and their evolution Emiliano Grossman (& Nicolas Sauger) (CEVIPOF, Sciences Po, Paris)
The Far Right in the Fifth Republic at Fifty - electoral defeat, ideological victory? James Shields (Warwick)
The Third Workshop in the Franco-British Alliance Grant Series, organised by Ben Clift (University of Warwick) and Cornelia Woll (CERI, Sciences Po Paris) took place at CERI, Sciences Po Paris on the 18-19 June 2009. This was the third workshop in a series on Economic Patriotism: The Limits of the European Market Project. It involved a range of speakers and participants includingGlenn Morgan (Warwick), Helen Callaghan (Max Planck Institute), Vivien Schmidt (Boston), Zaki Laidi (CERI, Sciences Po Paris),Patrick Le Galès (Sciences Po), Len Seabrooke (Warwick), Catherine Hoeffler (Sciences Po), Wyn Grant (Warwick), and Nicolas Jabko (Sciences Po).
The Judge for the 2008 Vincent Wright Prize for the best French Politics paper presented at the 2008 PSA conference in Swansea is Professor Nick Hewlett (Warwick). The winner of the prize was Dr Nick Startin (University of the West of England) for his paper ‘From low-key ambivalence to qualified opposition: the French Front national and the European Union.’ Professor Hewlett said of Nick’s paper;
‘This paper has many virtues and very much deserves the prize. Among these virtues are: 1.It offers real insight into an area which is little explored by most of the literature on the Front national. 2.It explores the relevant literature in a way that will be interesting to the initiated and the uninitiated alike. 3.The results of the survey of FN regional councillors offers a rare insight into the thoughts of a number of people with ongoing commitment to the party. 4.The inclusion of detailed results of the survey serves to illustrate the well-founded methodology of the research project. 5.The paper’s concluding remarks suggest strongly and convincingly that Europe is a more important issue for both FN party activists and FN voters than we might otherwise have thought.’
Alistair Cole, Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University, has been appointed as judge for the Vincent Wright Memorial Award for the best paper presented on French Politics at the 2009 PSA Annual Conference. We will announce the winner in a future issue of this newsletter.
As ever, the group is keen to facilitate academic exchange of all kinds. It continues to make teaching documents available, and is always looking for additions to its portfolio of module documents. These can be sent to Ben Clift (B.M.Clift@Warwick.ac.uk).
We are always looking to support initiatives to organize conferences or seminars – either exclusively on French politics, or on French politics in a broader comparative perspective. If you have an idea for an academic event on French politics, why not contact either Ben Clift (B.M.Clift@Warwick.ac.uk) or Jocelyn Evans (J.A.Evans@salford.ac.uk).