Routledge
560 pages
The Government and Politics of France has been the leading textbook on French politics for over a generation, and continues to provide students with a comprehensive and incisive introduction to the intricacies of French politics and government. This edition updates every chapter, with the addition of a new chapter on France and Europe. Recent events necessitate a new edition, particularly the 2002 elections and the growing interpenetration of France and the EU in student programmes, as well as in the real world.
Whether covering the shifting balance within France's two-headed executive, the paradoxes of the French party politics, the power and fragmentation of France's administration, the growing assertiveness of French local government, or the newly visible world of the judiciary, The Government and Politics of France has always sought to confront established paradigms with the complex and untidy reality of French politics at the grass roots.
Reviews of the previous edition:'With any introductory text one is left with two questions: can I recommend it to students; should I read it myself? The verdict on Wright's book is 'Yes' on both counts. It is a spirited and intelligent introduction to the Fifth Republic which gets the tricky balance between factual grounding and analysis about right. Yet even the specialist on France will find the discussion of staple issues profitably cogent.' - Martin Harrison, Political Studies
1. Political Traditions in a Changing Context 2. From the Fourth to Fifth Republic 3. Presidents and Prime Ministers 4. The Sources of Executive Power 5. Executive Policy-Making 6. Parliament: Decline or Renewal 7. The Left 8. The Right 9. The Party System 10. The Bureaucracy 11. Interest Groups 12. Local and Regional Government 13. The Justice System 14. France and Europe
