1st Edition
Revolution Revisited: Emmanuel Macron and the Limits of Political Change in France
This book provides timely assessment of the extent to which Emmanuel Macron’s declared presidential goal – to bring in radical transformation of French politics, indeed a revolution, albeit a democratic one – has been achieved.
This analysis of his presidency provides a framework for reflection on ‘immobilism’ in French politics, and how enduring transformation has remained much more elusive to most of those who promised it. With a wide a range of underlying, seemingly intractable and unresolved structural issues dominating French society, the book asks whether the young ‘disrupter’ has succeeded in reforming France where others had failed. What can we learn about the processes of political change from analysing Macron’s successes and failures in working through his ambitions for France?
This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and followers of French politics/studies and society, gender studies, media studies and more broadly European studies.
1. Introduction: How Disruptive Can a French President Be?
Susan Collard
2. Emmanuel Macron: The Paradoxes of a Disruptive Presidency
Sylvie Strudel
3. Democracy in France under Emmanuel Macron: From a Crisis of Representation to a Crisis of Regime?
Susan Collard
4. Political corruption in France and the ‘Moralisation of Public Life’ under Emmanuel Macron
Susan Collard and Françoise Dreyfus
5. Political Parties After the 2017 Earthquake
Elodie Fabre
6. Macron, the Media and Political Communication
Raymond Kuhn
7. Towards a ‘Sovereign Europe’? Macron’s European policy between conceptual fireworks and national interests
Jörg Monar
8. Macron and the Economy: A Labour-Market Perspective
Brigitte Granville
9. Emmanuel Macron’s Reform of the Higher Civil Service: Transforming the State Nobility into ‘Can-Do Managers’?
Jean-Michel Eymeri-Douzans
10. Education under Emmanuel Macron: Some Market-Inspired Change and Much Continuity
Nicolas Charles and Andy Smith
11. A Paler Shade of Green: Emmanuel Macron’s Policies on the Environment and Climate Change
Charlotte Halpern
12. Protest and Repression During Emmanuel Macron’s Presidency
Olivier Fillieule, Fabien Jobard, and Anne Wuilleumier
13. Macron’s Africa Policy: Promises, Practices and Path Dependencies
Tony Chafer
14. Macron’s New Beginning: Coming to Terms with the Colonial Past Through Restitution, Recognition and Empathy
Martin Evans
15. Recognition and Surveillance: Emmanuel Macron’s Religious Policy
Philippe Portier
Biography
Susan Collard is Senior Lecturer in French Politics and Contemporary European Studies at the University of Sussex, UK.
“Collard's volume analyses the challenges facing the Emmanuel Macron presidency in France. Over and above this, it shows us the opportunities and pitfalls of political leadership in a complex modern democracy.”
John Gaffney, Aston University, United Kingdom
“Dr Collard has compiled an impressive range of scholarship to offer comprehensive and original insights into the presidency of Emmanuel Macron, illuminating the intractable difficulties of effecting political change in France.”
Helen Drake, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom
"Sue Collard has done a wonderful job in pulling together this collection on Emmanuel Macron, a deeply paradoxical President, whose disruptive instincts contributed to leaving the country in an unprecedented state of institutional and political crisis. The volume is replete with paradoxes (of the monarchical–populist who damaged his own authority by an ill-considered dissolution), counter-intuitive insights (the participatory reformer who undermined civil society) and unintended consequences (the self-styled slayer of the extremes who assisted in mainstreaming the rightwards shift in immigration and security). The individual chapters provide keys to unlocking and understanding these tensions. I strongly recommend this book."
Alistair Cole, Sciences Po Lyon, France, and Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
