The “Olympic truce” did nothing to clarify the French political situation. Now that President Macron has definitively rejected the New Popular Front’s prime minister-designate, Lucie Castets, an epidemic of bad […]

My reaction to the stunning election results is now up at The New Republic. Thanks for reading.

(Originally posted on the Tocqueville 21 Substack) Not a victory for any one party, but an overwhelming defeat for the far right. Dear readers, All cards are now on the […]

No, I haven’t been stunned into silence by yesterday’s amazing and worrisome result. I’ve written an article for The New Republic: here’s the link. In the meantime, I want to […]

This electoral sequence certainly has not provided the “clarification” President Macron hoped for when he dissolved the National Assembly, but it has cleared up a few things on the left. […]

The outcome of Sunday’s second round remains unpredictable. The désistements have made it even more improbable that the RN will win an absolute majority … unless, of course, voters decide not to […]

This morning on France Inter, Marine Le Pen stated in no uncertain terms that Jordan Bardella would become prime minister only if the RN wins an absolute majority: “Why take […]

It’s the morning after the election, but the dust has only partially settled. Even with the rapid désistements of candidates willing to abide by traditional “republican discipline,” the ultimate outcome is not […]

Emmanuel Macron, who may have imagined himself in de Gaulle’s shoes when he dissolved the National Assembly, might consider now coming before the French and announcing, “Je ne vous ai […]

Still reeling from Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in last night’s US presidential debate, I awoke this morning to an email from a Belgian friend with a link to the latest […]

In its successful effort to de-demonize itself, the RN has certainly benefited from the comparison with Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia in Italy. Like the RN, the FdI is a party […]

It’s hard to escape the impression that the New Popular Front coalesced around a name more than anything else. This was François Ruffin’s stroke of genius: to substitute a phantasmagorical […]

Upon dissolving the parliament the president said that it would lead to “clarification” of the political landscape: “The masks will fall,” he added. But clarity remains elusive. Indeed, the dissembling, […]

Is the center making a comeback? Harris is projecting the RN to win 220-250 seats, the New Popular Front 135-165, and Renaissance 125-130, half of its current 250 but still […]

A word much in the air these days is sursaut. It was a favorite of General de Gaulle’s, but it’s hard to translate into English. One dictionary suggests “surge,” which rarely […]

President Macron’s professed purpose in dissolving the National Assembly was to achieve a “clarification” of the political picture in France. People had supposedly become confused about what they were supporting. […]

Readers of a certain age may remember when the Communist Party of the Soviet Union described its inscrutable inner workings as “democratic centralism.” Within hours of its joyous birth, France’s […]

The Socialists, Communists, Greens, France Insoumise (LFI), and Place Publique have reached an agreement on a new Popular Front and will present a single slate of candidates in the first […]

I have a new article up at The New Republic. (There’s a problem with this link, which should be fixed shortly, however.) Here are a few additional thoughts. In the […]

Historien, spécialiste de l’histoire politique et intellectuelle de la France contemporaine, professeur émérite des universités à l’Institut d’études politique de Paris, Michel Winock a écrit une quarantaine d’ouvrages. Il est […]

  Tribune « La Révolution a fondé une société, elle cherche encore son gouvernement. » Le journaliste Prévost-Paradol composa cette phrase en 1868, et dans l’attente des prochaines élections législatives, celle-ci n’a guère […]