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The uses of party manifestos in France

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

Moving from the "What" (the content of programmes) to the "Why's" (the objectives provided), this article shows how French political parties use election manifestos. We put forward three complementary hypotheses. First, we contend that uses of manifestos have diversified over time. Second, these uses vary in intensity from period to period. Third, both temporal variations are expected to reflect the changing rules of the political field. Overall, we show that considering the multiple transactions involved in the making of manifestos as an open question makes it possible to better account for how their content has evolved over time.

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Notes

  1. Functionalist analysis, which is referred to under various names, viewed the “programmatic function”, i.e. the manufacture and dissemination of political programmes, as one of the major functions of political parties (Sorauf, 1964; Apter, 1965; Almond and Powell, 1966; Lowi, 1967; Epstein, 1967).

  2. The French parties can be considered as representative of the main types of parties.

  3. Aarnio and Pekonen (1999) have advanced a similar hypothesis, in which the uses of programmes evolve with party types (Cadre-party, Mass-Party, Catch-all Party, Cartel Party).

  4. A LREM MP, elected for the first time in 2017, told us that he frequently refers to Macron’s presidential programme to respond to the questions put to him.

  5. Berstein (1980) contrasted the radical Nancy programme (1907) with those of 1919 and 1923.

  6. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, blog post of May 28, 2017, https://melenchon.fr/2017/05/28/a-propos-du-mouvement-la-france-insoumise.

  7. The objective of this ANR project was to contribute to the “Do Parties Matter” debates by analysing the conditions under which French parties influence public policy. See Bouillaud et al. (2017) and the project website: https://sites.google.com/a/iepg.fr/partipol/project.

  8. www.lemonde.fr/programmes/, last consulted on July 8, 2018.

  9. For an analyse of electoral effects of working-class appeals in the United States and Denmark, see Robinson et al. (2021).

  10. The radicalisation of the UMP's programme is accompanied by the adoption of traditional left-wing party issues (Confavreux & Lindgaard 2007).

  11. Such skepticism, which paradoxically goes hand in hand with an increasing rate of promise fulfillment, has been studied in other political spaces, such as Sweden or Ireland (Naurin 2011; Thomson 2011).

  12. “Holland: "I am not a goody bag candidate!"” challenges.fr, April 4, 2012.

  13. http://www.luipresident.fr/francois-hollande/sources-des-promesses, page last viewed on October 25, 2019.

  14. “Royal, Between Stress and Audacity”, Le Monde, April 9, 2007.

  15. “M. Sarkozy rêve de retrouver les atouts de sa campagne de 2007”, Le Monde, 16 February 2012.

  16. “Les candidats à l'heure des comptes”, Le Monde, March 24, 2017.

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  1. Université d’Artois, faculté de droit, rue d’esquerchin, 59500, Douai, France

    Nicolas Bué

  2. Université Versailles - Saint-Quentin, 47 boulevard Vauban, 78047, Guyancourt Cedex, France

    Rafaël Cos

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  1. Nicolas Bué
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Bué, N., Cos, R. The uses of party manifestos in France. Fr Polit 19, 450–468 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-021-00160-y

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