Contenu du sommaire : La culture politique en France depuis De Gaulle

The invention and the disintegration of communist culture, Marc Lazar. From the point of view of the notion of political culture, the study of a communist party is a textbook case. Communist culture results from a laborious work of edification whose apogee was reached from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s, and whose construction can be observed. The communist ideal type has two dimensions, one teleological but not monolithic and which cannot be limited to its doctrinal aspect, the other societal, which helps to understand how the culture takes form in relation to social groups. Communist culture is thus not only a simple intemalization of norms, values and behaviors, but the result of active work on the infrapolitical level as much as on that of the party and the national leadership.

The Center's search for its political culture, Serge Berstein. The French Center has neither a uniform doctrine nor group cohesion, even if its practices may be original and its behavior meaningful. What is then left besides its gripping ambition not to disappear, as Pierre Abelin said, caught "between crocodile jaws?" Yet it is the very left-right reptilian which chronically nourishes uneasiness in this political family whose culture is always pulled (e.g. on school issues) between radicalism and Christian democracy.

The RPR and Gaullism: the misfortunes of faithfulness, Bernard Lachaise. The RPR willingly presents itself as the heir of Gaullism. However, its doctrine has taken singular liberties concerning General de Gaulle's thinking, as attested by its rightward drift, its approach to the State and its European conceptions. It must neveitheless be acknowledged that from the very start, Gaullism itself was characterized by a wide variety of faces.

French socialism and the two democracies, Marc Sadoun. Beyond the governmental experiences carried out since 1981, there is a political socialist culture that tends to maintain itself. Besides the relation to Marxism, other values structure a culture marked by humanism, rationalism and tolerance, elements which connect French socialism to France's national history.

Is the National Front creating a political culture? Pierre Milza. A mixture of neo-fascism, counter-revolutionary conservatism and national populism, the National Front ideology is too composite to create an original political culture. The strength of Lepénisme cornes from the charisma of its leader and the Front's organization as a counter-society.

Ecology : a new political culture ? Daniel Boy. While the motivations of voters who declare temselves sympathizers of the ecologist movement seem to show a certain lack of precision, it appears that the militants rally behind more structured references and themes, such as the refusal of productivism, support for the notion of autonomy and the desire to "act differently in politics". It may thus be considered that in France a developing ecologist culture is slowly crystallizing.

The ups and downs of secular culture, Jean Baubérot. The banners of the 16 January 1994 demonstration seemed to indicate a forceful return of secular culture. Nevertheless, recent events were not a "reverse 1984". In the meantime, the secular ideal was rejuvenated at the very time it was returning to its sources. The result is that secularism was and remains a difficult and conflictual awareness of democratic demands within a republican logic which has so deeply shaped French political culture since 1789.

The political culture of today's Catholics, René Rémond. It is not easy to define the specificities of a political culture possibly common to today's French Catholics. Because they maintain diverse positions, because, above all, the Catholic dimension pervades the world vision of most French people, way beyond the sphere of believers and observants, one could be tempted to conclude that Catholic specificity has been diluted. That would be neglecting, however, the existence of a Catholic outlook concerning politics, and in particular the refusal to consider politics as an absolute and the putting forward of an ethic of reconciliation.

The beurs in the city, Rémy Leveau. Analysing political culture of the beurs (second generation North Africans, born in France) leads to stressing the elements of specificity due to the role of Islam as a determinant variable. This long-neglected factor must be analyzed attentively, but it should not hide the weight of other factors linked to the local and professional context. All these analytical elements illustrate the break with the countries of origin and show the strength of identity affirmation linked to the process of integration into French society.

Women and political culture. The failure of acounterculture? Mariette Sineau. Women's political culture cannot be reduced to the struggle led by the feminist movement. On the left as on the right, women approach the political debate through their own values. This expectation of a feminine political culture accompanies the hope for a global renewal of politics as such.

Television and political culture, Pierre Chambat. The links between television and political culture in France should be evaluated taking into account the conjunctural convergence between the expansion of television and the creation of the Fifth Republic. Television was first associated to the liquidation of the representative parliamentary tradition by a "new regime" which made abundant use of the media to reinforce the executive's direct link with the people. With alternation and the end of "French exceptionalism", preoc- cupations emerged that were more focused on the theme of political communication and public opinion democracy.

The Nord, the love of political culture, Jean Vavasseur-Desperriers. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais is undoubtedly one of the French regions with the strongest collective identity, fed by the human landscape as well as by history and social practices. It is not surprising to observe that its inhabitants participate in a distinctive regional political culture : Catholic impregnation, socialist references, strong local roots of the key figures, pragmatic populism, etc. are as many components of a relationship to politics particular to the Nord's inhabitants.

The Girondine strain in the political culture of Aquitaine, Pierre Guillaume. How can one speak of the political culture of a region with an uncertain identity in which election results reflect voting instability and heterogeneity? The originality of Aquitaine behavior - the cultivation of the art of compromise - makes it possible to measure the distance between the political culture of a given region and that of the national community. Regional studies bring nuances to simplifying ideas such as that of the Radical soil of Aquitaine and show the importance of political pragmatism of both voters and leaders. Thus the Girondine myth which undoubtedly impregnates the Aquitaine political culture has served the demands for both autonomy and greater state intervention. Its present adaptation to the requirements of decentralization is a good example of the transformation capacity of representations to the needs of the times.

Line of flight. The idea of Europe in French political culture, Nicolas Roussellier. Is French political culture closed to Europe, now conceived as an idea, a construction and also a future ? It is tempting to answer affirmatively, since culturally the nation and its sovereignty are still dominant. But if one nevertheless wanted to nourish the discussion on Europe - and historians carry a heavy burden of responsibility - will it be necessary to challenge France's political culture?

The return of republican culture, Serge Berstein. At a time of an apparently general crisis, the author pleads for optimism with convincing arguments. The original republican culture has certainly experienced major changes. It has weathered storms. But it remains the common denominator, the consensual ensemble which vivifies that the political culture of the French.

The twenty decisive years. Political cultures and temporalities in fin de siècle France, Jean-François Sirinelli. National political culture changed its socio-cultural foundations in the mid-1960s. Television developed a consensual pedagogy. May 1968 encouraged the right to difference. But the left-right cleavage still remains the reference and the identity principle. To understand this fixity, is it necessary to try to uncover, beneath the political culture, deeper hidden sensibilities?