How France Votes takes as context the presidential election of 1995, which saw the triumph of Gaullist Jacques Chirac, and the legislative elections of 1997, which saw Chirac's political defeat and the emergence of Socialist Lionel Jospin as the prime minister. How did this reversal happen, and why?

Michael S. Lewis-Beck leads a team of distiguished scholars who survey campaign issues, party strategies, constitutional rules and institutions, and the French electorate in the context of the 1995 and 1997 elections.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Enduring French Voter, Michael S. Lewis-Beck

1. The Socialists, Jospin, and the Mitterand Legacy, William Safran

2. The Electoral Campaign, Bruno Cautrès

3. The National Front and the Legislative Elections of 1997, Martin A. Schain

4. Europe Becomes French Domestic Politics, George Ross

5. Why Did the Right Lose?, Gérard Grunberg

6. The Stability of the French Party System: The Enduring Impact of the Two-Ballot Electoral Rules, Joseph A. Schlesinger and Mildred S. Schlesinger

7. Cleavage Voting and Issue Voting in France, Daniel Boy and Nonna Mayer

8. The Myth of Neoconservatism, Etienne Schweisguth

9. The Influence of Political Scandals on Popularity and Votes, Jean-Dominique Lafay and Marie Servais

10. The France That Doesn't Vote: Nonconsumption in the Electoral Market, Andrew M. Appleton

11. Do the Parties Matter?, Kay Lawson and Colette Ysmal

Abbreviations
Notes
References
Index