HS/PO 311 DEMOCRACY IN FRANCE IES Abroad Paris French Studies Program Syllabus

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1 HS/PO 311 DEMOCRACY IN FRANCE IES Abroad Paris French Studies Program Syllabus DESCRIPTION: This course analyzes the making of democracy in France throughout the different regimes from 1848 to the present. It aims to describe an original example of democracy challenged by recent social and political changes. The course will combine a historical perspective with a political science approach. The historical perspective will stress constitutions, institutions, elections, regime changes and political forces since 1848; considering this year as the beginning of the democratic era. The political approach will focus on political life today with particular attention to the political situation since the presidential election of CREDITS: 3 CONTACT HOURS: 45 hours LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: French PREREQUISITES: None ADDITIONAL COSTS: None METHOD OF PRESENTATION Classes consist of lectures given by the professor, discussions of assigned readings, and student presentations of political news inquiries assigned by the professor. REQUIRED WORK AND FORM OF ASSESSMENT Course participation - 10% Short-answer test -10% Oral presentation - 10% Midterm exam - 20% Student report - 20 % Final exam - 30% Course participation Students must complete the mandatory readings before each class. Active oral participation is required of all students. Field vocabulary must be known and used in French. Short-answer test A short test at the end of week three to evaluate the students progress in the course. Oral presentation A ten-minute oral presentation in class devoted to a political party, a political group at the Senate or in the National Assembly, a union or a political NGO. The presentation will be followed by questions from other students. Midterm exam A written exam with short-answer questions and short texts to read with accompanying questions. Student report

2 A word report on a personal democratic experience in France. Examples include an interview with someone in office, attendance of a political meeting, and a press review of a current political event. Final exam A written exam focused on global knowledge of the subject. The exam includes short compositions on a variety of topics and a long, written text to be analyzed. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this course, students will be able to: Characterize the institutions and actors of French political life Demonstrate an understanding of political and democratic concepts Reference the most significant aspects of the democratic history of France Articulate French democratic issues from a historical perspective ATTENDANCE POLICY Attendance is mandatory for all course meetings, including visits. Absences and lateness will affect your ability to master class content. In addition, your final grade will be lowered by 1/6 of a letter grade for each absence. For example: Final grade : A-. 1 absence = A-, 2 absences = B+, 3 absences = B+, 4 absences = B Being more than 15 minutes late to a course counts as an absence. 3 late arrivals (less than 15 minutes) count as an absence. If a student misses more than 25% of class time, s/he will receive an F in the course. Assignments and presentations missed because of absences will be given the grade of F. When absences occur, students must inform their teacher and the French Studies Academic Coordinator as soon as possible (amilan@iesparis.org). In some instances (sickness with doctor s note for example), absences may be excused. If a student believes that an absence should be excused, he or she must contact Scott, Seth or Alexandra. CONTENT: Week Content Assignments Week Introduction: What is "democracy"? 1.2 France as a "democratic laboratory" Aristotle: Politics; Yves Lequin: Histoire des Français (extracts distributed in class by the professor) De Tocqueville, Alexis. De la démocratie en Amérique, Choix de textes, introduction, notes, bibliographie et glossaire par Philippe Raynaud, pages 50 à 61, chapitre III et IV. Week 2 Main institutions and how they function 2.1 Executive and legislative branches 2.1 Judicial branch and local powers Les institutions de la France, Nathan, Coll Repères pratiques p , and Néant, La Politique en France p

3 Week 3 Week 4 The origin of democracy in France: the French Revolution 3.1 The invention of political modernity 3.2 Constitutional experiences before the 1848 Revolution (1791, 1793, 1795, 1804, 1814, 1830) 4.1 Political parties and movements, lobbying groups, French Constitutions between 1791 and 1830 (extracts distributed in class by the professor) Hasquenoph, Initiation à la citoyenneté, p 69-77: la Révolution française: le sacre du citoyen Short-answer test Repères Nathan p Néant p Voting procedures, media Course- related trip: National Assembly Website of political parties, Week 5 Week 6 Week The presidential election: process, candidates, primaries, comparison with the United States, challenges and electoral results under the Fifth Republic. 5.2 The 2017 elections, the "quinquennat" (fiveyear term), the Macron presidency and political recomposition and cleavages 1848: The Second Republic, first democratic regime 6.1 The triumph of liberalism? of democracy? or a reaction victory? 6.2 The great question of universal suffrage : The Third Republic 7.1 Mid-term exam Repères Nathan p Néant p (see schedule established at the beginning of the semester) Néant p 7-16; p 86-90: le libéralisme et p : le royalisme Néant p 22-27, p : le bonapartisme p ; le républicanisme Offerlé: Un homme, une voix? histoire du suffrage universel, Découverte Gallimard: p 1-30 Lagouyeyte: La vie politique en France au XIXè siècle, p A republican political culture takes root; the need for "laïcité"( ) Midterm exam

4 Week 8 Totalitarian danger during the inter-war period ( ) 8.1 Totalitarism and totalitarian States (1917, 1922, 1933) 8.2 Defense of the republic, crisis of democracy (1934, 1936,1939) Néant chronologie p 33 and liste des présidents du conseil p 37 Néant p : le communisme et le socialisme; document on radicalism distributed by the professor. Week 9 Confiscation of democracy ( ) 9.1 Vichy, the anti-democracy 9.2 Ideals of the French Resistance, renewal of the democratic ideal ( ) Néant p 38-44; p : l'extrême-droite Néant p 44-50, p : la démocratiechrétienne et le gaullisme; Offerlé: Un homme, une voix?, p Week 10 Democracy during the cold war ( ) 10.1 The "Etat-providence" (Welfare State) gives a new face to the liberal democracy ( ) 10.2 The Fourth Republic ( ) H. Néant p (rereading) Programme du CNR (1944); article "Etatprovidence" in Dictionnaire des Questions Politiques, Nelly Haudegand et Pierre Lefébure; "Vers la démocratie providentielle, in La démocratie, s.d Jean-Vincent Holeindre et Benoît Richard Hasquenoph p : une autre dimension de la citoyenneté Week 11 A new republican vision 11.1 From one Republic to another (1958) 11.2 The Fifth Republic or the Gaullian Republic ( ) Néant p 51-61, p (rereading) Week 12 After de Gaulle: The republic without de Gaulle: Pompidou, Giscard, Mitterrand, Chirac 12.2 The Fifth Republic entering the XXIst century: Sarkozy, Hollande, Macron L'Histoire n spécial, n 258, Le président de la République, octobre 2001, p Student report due Week 13 French democracy: forms and challenges

5 13.1 Participative democracy, direct democracy, digital democracy 13.2 Europe democracy, integration, populism and globalization Nathan p ; Néant p «Cahiers français», n 397, la Documentation française, avril 2017: la Vème République et ses évolutions Week Final Exam Final Exam COURSE-RELATED TRIP Guided tour of the French National Assembly, the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France, located in the Palais Bourbon (Week 4) REQUIRED READINGS: Printed texts Cahiers français, la Vème république et ses évolutions, n 397, avril 2017, La Documentation française. Hasquenoph, Sophie. Initiation à la citoyenneté de l'antiquité à nos jours, ellipses, Paris, Haudegand N. et Lefébure P. Dictionnaire des Questions Politiques, 60 enjeux de la France contemporaine. Les Editions de l'auteur, Paris, Holeindre, J.V et Richard, B. La Démocratie, Histoire, théories, pratiques. Seuil, Auxerre, Les institutions de la France, Repères Pratiques Nathan, Paris, Lagoueyte, Patrick. La vie politique en France au XIXe siècle. Broché, Paris «L'Histoire», numéro spécial 258, Le président de la république. Octobre Néant, Hubert. La politique en France. Hachette Supérieur, Paris, Offerlé, Michel. Un homme, une voix? Histoire du suffrage universel. Découvertes Gallimard, Paris, De Tocqueville, Alexis. De la démocratie en Amérique, Choix de textes, introduction, notes, bibliographie et glossaire par Philippe Raynaud, Edition avec dossier GF-Flammarion, Paris, 2010: pages 50 à 61, chapitre III et IV. Websites assemblee-nationale.fr cidem.fr conseil-constitutionnel.fr gouvernement.fr/observatoire-de-la-laicite ladocfrançaise.fr senat.fr vie-publique.fr RECOMMENDED READINGS: Berstein, Serge s.d. La démocratie libérale: Histoire générale des systèmes politiques, dirigée par Duverger Maurice et Sirinelli, Jean-François. PUF, Paris, 1998, 950 p. Berstein, Serge et Michel Winock, s.d. L invention de la démocratie ( ), histoire de la France politique, Seuil, Paris, 2003, 514 p. Tenzer, Nicolas. Histoire des doctrines politiques en France, QSJ?, PUF, Paris, 1996, 128 p. Cabanel Patrick, Jean-Marc Février, s.d. Questions de démocratie, Presse Universitaire du Mirail, Amphi 7, Toulouse, 2000, 456 p.