France Votes: The Election of François Hollande

Irwin Wall is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Riverside and currently a Visiting Scholar at New York University, USA.

Table of Contents Introduction: France and the European Union at a Turning Point 1. The Crisis of the European Union; the Crisis of the Euro; France and the EU 2. France of the Fifth Republic; The Parties and the Electoral System; The Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy; The Campaign and the Elections; The Dimensions of the Socialist Victory. 3. The Peculiarities of the Victory; American Innovations, Party Primaries and The First Ladies; Women in French Politics; The Personal and the Political; Powerful Women For and Against François Hollande; Hollande's Huge Majority With a Party in the Minority 4. French Democracy in Crisis; The National Front; Old and New Cleavages in the Body Politic; Europe Divides the Parties; The Defection of the Electorate; Is French Democracy in Question? 5. The Hollande Government in Action: Is France After All a 'No-Choice' Democracy? Conclusion: Whither France and the EU