Contenu du sommaire

The author answers the article by Zeev Sternhell, « Emmanuel Mounier and the contestation of liberal democracy in the France of thé 1930s » (Revue française de science politique, 34 (6), December 1984, p.1141-1180). He criticizes ils method and reproaches Zeev Sternhell for having constructed a « hypothetical » Mounier and not wanting to take into account either Mounier's firm anti-totalitarian texts, nor the exact scope of his criticism of parliamentary democracy, nor the prophetie attitude (perhaps somewhat uncautious, but brave and uncompromising on essentials) of the director of Esprit.

As originally understood, political philosophy is distinguished not only by its subject matter but by its mode of expression. A form of philosophy that is politic, or prudent, its mode of reasoning differs from the analytic or synthetic modes which mark contemporary political studies. Nonetheless, ordinary political language continues to reflect the logos of prudence which is elaborated by political philosophy as originally conceived. The attempt to recover that logic has guided the studies by Leo Strauss in the history of political philosophy. But those studies are not merely historical ; they evidently convey, however indirectly, a political teaching. By attempting to understand the political philosophy of Leo Strauss, the present essay seeks to understand the relation between his written word and the unstated prudence that informs it. In this way, the essay attempts to recover that prudence which is the expression of practical, or political, reason.

Three questions are asked : Are there different patterns of upbringing and family organization in France ? Are possible differences linked to social categories ? Does the type of upbringing desired and provided within the family affect the transmission of social-cultural norms and values and political preferences from parents to children ? The answers are : to the first question, yes, there are highly structured and contrasted family types ; to the second : no, family types do not correspond to the morphology of social groups, but are linked primarily to the organized system of the parents' ideological preferences. As for the transmission of values, attitudes and practices within the family, its degree of success has more to do with the kind of attitudes and values to be transmitted than with the type of upbringing used by the parents.

The Corsican malaise is persisting, with ils brutal outbursts of violence. The collapse of the rural subsistence economy and the rapid swing towards an overdeveloped tertiary sector have enabled the Corsicans to join the consumer society, while the traditional culture was falling apart only very slowly. A determined minority strives to save what can still be saved of the Corsican identity and thus legitimizes certain forms of violence, but another minority is just as determined to refuse a direction which would threaten prosperity. Between these two poles, an undecided majority is waverig. A utopian concept has developed : reconciling the culture of the past and the economy of the future. That means ignoring the failures and the dramas such a dream has always produced. It is necessary to choose, but everybody tries to avoid a choice.

The Labor Alignment, In power from 1967 to 1977, developed a policy of strategie (Allon) and functional (Dayan) integration. This policy, originally contested by the « doves » within the labor movement, was then criticized by those favorable to a pioneer-like activism outsidc the Maarack. A victim of internal tensions and outside pressure, the ILP took refuge in immobility after ils 1977 defeat and could not go beyond the Jordanian option, shutting itself within a strong political conservatism.