Active/participatory Citizenship: the French Paradox

Transcription

1 Antoine Bevort LISE-CNAM-CNRS Introduction Active/participatory Citizenship: the French Paradox The Effect of Austerity on Active Citizenship in Europe Seminar Friday 7 th December 2012 University of Southampton It is interesting to compare the cases of France and the Netherlands given that both countries are represented in the seminar. As such, it seems appropriate to recall the distinction made by the Dutch American political scientist, Arend Lijphart, between the majoritarian model of democracy and the consensus type of democracy. According to Arend Lijphart, the differences between the two types of democracy can be described in broad terms as the difference between the concentration of power in the hands of a narrow majority versus the sharing, dispersing, and limiting of power in a variety of ways. A closely related difference is that the majoritarian model of democracy is exclusive, competitive, and adversarial, whereas the consensus model is characterized by inclusiveness, negotiation, and compromise. Whereas the Netherlands is one of the examples of a consensus democracy, France is a nation where the concentration of power in the hands of an almost monarch president is surely one of the strongest of the majoritarian democracies. The French political regime is not exactly one of a strong democracy. If France claims to be the homeland of citizenship, it is not at ease with the idea of active or participatory citizenship. There is a growing awareness of a crisis of the French political tradition, but it remains difficult for France to take into account the role of active citizenship. Even if France is probably one of the European countries granting the most lip service to participation and social dialogue, the elites are very reluctant to really empower the citizens. Before trying to assess the effects of the economic crisis on the policies and practices of active citizenship, it is necessary, in addition to this big picture, to sketch a little bit more precisely the main features and recent events of French political life to understand the context and understanding of active/participatory citizenship in France. 1. The context and understanding of active/participatory citizenship in France 1.1. The context Let me first recall some French socio-political features forming the overall context. 1

2 The French political regime is neither a parliamentary regime, like the United Kingdom, nor a presidential regime, like the United States. France has a political regime that is somewhat unbalanced, giving much power to the President compared to the parliament. The president is the chief of the executive but controls closely the legislative bodies, having notably the possibility to dissolve the lower house of parliament. Since legislation in 2002, the President of the Republic is elected for 5 years (instead of 7 years before). The reform sought to reduce the imbalance between the executive and the legislative as the members of the Assemblée nationale are also elected for 5 years. Ten years later, it is far from sure that the goal has been reached. For the last 9 years, there has been a right-wing majority at national level (president, parliament) and a left-wing majority at the level of local authorities (regions, départements and communes). Since spring 2012, all the levels are in the hands of a left coalition. It creates the possibility of making a tremendous change in the political institutions, but that would suppose the left has a project of changing the political regime, without mentioning empowering the citizens France remains a centralised country, which has a unitary structure even if there has been a tendency towards some progressive decentralisation since Yet, the central State still has a lot of power compared with most other European countries. Altogether, France counts 36,682 communes (municipalities). The very large number of communes is a French peculiarity. It could be a factor of decentralisation and local citizenship but is more the reproduction at local level of the monarchical tendencies of the French political life, than a factor of active citizenship. The vitality of associative life (voluntary organisations) is a debated question. There are about 1.1 million associations, with 14 million volunteers and 1.9 million employees (fulltime or part-time) and 37,000 new associations are created each year in France. But a report of 2010, found that there is a lack of data on associations in France, and recommends setting up a nationwide periodic survey of them, and the development of a national registry. Associations, like trade unions, depend on public funding and the active members are mostly older and middle-class people. A minority of the associations promote active citizenship, but the biggest associations focus on sport, leisure and culture and social activities. One of the indicators of the decreasing legitimacy of the French political regime can be discerned in the turnout of the last electoral ballots. Table 1. Elections turnout Election nd round nd round Presidential 83.97% 77.96% 83.77% 75.68% National 60.42% % % Assembly Regional nd round 2

3 % Cantonal % % Municipal % % European % The decline in turnout is obvious in all elections, except perhaps for the municipal elections. But the table doesn t show the progress in blank or spoilt ballot papers, which reached for example 4.86 % in the second round in the presidential elections of The understanding of active citizenship, participatory democracy The concept of active citizenship is not used commonly in official documents and policies at national level. The term active citizenship is mainly used by local authorities, some political parties or associations in referring to the participation in civil society and political life, particularly the participation inballots at different levels and in local decision-making. However, the broader concept of citizenship is commonly used since the French Revolution (Déclaration des Droits de l Homme et du citoyen). This concept of citizenship is very much related to the concept of Republic. Since Condorcet, a crucial role of the French education system is to educate the "citizen. The terms that are the most often used are: démocratie participative (participatory democracy) mainly by the left-wing political parties or trade-unions, and démocratie de proximité (proximity democracy) or démocratie locale ( local democracy ). Other used notions are: engagement civique (civic engagement), attitude civique (civic attitude), Action citoyenne (citizens' actions), initiative citoyenne (citizens' initiatives), engagement associatif (commitment in voluntary organisations), débat public (public debate). These notions (rather than concepts) are used by national policy makers, local authorities, NGOs, and in school (education for citizenship). The term démocratie de proximité is used by an Act of February 2002, which created neighbourhood councils. We will return later to this Act. The concept of participatory democracy played an important role during the presidential elections of 2006 as it was emphasised by the socialist party candidate, but the reference to this notion has quite disappeared since, as can be noted in the presidential and legislative elections of spring

4 The term of active citizenship is used more by voluntary organisations and local authorities than by national bodies. It is also sometimes used in education (education for citizenship). The civic education syllabus in the school curriculum states that schools must educate clearheaded and well-informed citizens able to make critical judgements. The concept of citizenship is central in the syllabus of the new school subject Civic, legal and social education ( Education civique, juridique et sociale ) created in Students take this course in each of the three years of upper secondary education. The City of Paris (Ville de Paris) is using explicitly the concept of active citizenship and has created training sessions for enhancing it. It is called L université populaire de la citoyenneté active and it is run by the local democracy Mission. A Parisian Charter for the participation of citizens was adopted in December The training courses include subjects such as: how to conduct a meeting or designing and monitoring a citizenship project. The term active citizenship is sometimes used by voluntary organisations to describe participation in collective actions like demonstrations, signing a petition or a manifesto, or taking part in a boycott. Sometimes it is used by voluntary organisations of minority groups (immigrants, women) who claim more participation in decision-making processes in the fields of public interest. The European dimension of active citizenship The European dimension has a low priority and is not often mentioned. The notion of European citizenship is not well known or understood by most of the population in France. People in France are not clearly aware of the main aspects or attributes of European citizenship, even of the obvious aspects such as the European passport, easier mobility within the Schengen zone, professional mobility, etc. However students and teachers are more aware of a European citizenship because programmes like Leonardo and Socrates (mainly Erasmus) have played a crucial role in this respect, but they concern directly only a minority of students and teaching staff. In fact, the symbol of Europe that is the most significant in public opinion is the EURO currency (not very well appreciated by a part of the population) and to lesser extent the Common Agricultural Policy. These aspects have few implications with respect to a feeling of European citizenship. However, common decisions at European level for foreign or economic policy have some positive (or sometimes negative) impact on the feeling of belonging to a European community. 2. The effects of austerity and economic recession on active citizenship in your country (focusing on policy and practice) It is difficult to establish the relation between economic recession and citizenship. But if we consider that since the beginning of this century there has been an economic recession, we may say, putting it boldly, that overall in the same period: 1. The crisis of representative democracy is deepening 4

5 2. The demand for a more participatory democracy is growing 3. Regarding citizenship, politics and institutions are undergoing a relatively slow evolution, but there is more talk about active citizenship than practice. To illustrate this, we will describe some evolutions in political practices since the nineteeneighties, and present some new policies in the field of citizenship. To finish we will select some figures concerning France in the fourth wave of the European Values Survey, which show the ambivalent relationship to politics and citizenship in this country Some evolutions in political practices since the nineteen-eighties: the crisis of representative democracy Regarding the French case, the indicators of the crisis of representative democracy are numerous. - The fall in the union membership figures since the middle of the seventies, and especially in the eighties. The fall has come to a halt, but union membership rates stays at a very low level, 7/8 %. - The decreasing participation in elections, with the exception of the local (municipal) elections. - The weak confidence or trust in the parties and government - The increasing presence of the far right on the political scene. - The growing scepticism regarding the European Union - The victory of the "No" in the French referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe held in % of voters rejected the treaty, promoted by the major left and right parties with a turnout of 69 %. Those signals are not without creating some awareness of the necessity to find answers to this evolution Policies emerging in the new century Five examples of new policies show how France is reacting to the demand for more participatory democracy. - The proximity democracy Act voted in 2002 was a response to the decreasing turnout in municipal elections. It was named in first instance participatory democracy Act but the members of parliament and this says a lot were afraid of this title. The law imposed the creation of neighbourhood councils in towns with more than inhabitants. However, the comparison with the Dutch councils shows the difference in the understanding of this form of active or participatory citizenship. 5

6 Haarlem Rouen creation By the inhabitants By the mayor power Consultative but the municipal council has to respond Consultative composition Inhabitants Inhabitants and elected meetings Open to the public In camera direction Means of functioning Board elected by and among the inhabitants fixed financing (1500 plus 0,45 per inhabitant) provided by the city Board with elected members of the municipal council Means provided by the city - Participatory democracy was a major topic in the 2007 campaign for presidential elections in France. The socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, adopted this issue as the symbol for a renewed approach to politics. The topic has basically disappeared since then and played no role in the 2012 campaign. - In 2008, a reform was undertaken to define new criteria regarding the trade union representivity. It is no longer de jure, presumed on their past historic role, but has now to be based on electoral results. - In 2011, the French Socialist Party organised the first presidential primary to select their candidate for the 2012 presidential election. It was an open primary, all voters and candidates could take part. In 2012 the right wing party UMP also organised primaries to choose their party leader, but they were not open. - The tax deduction of 60% of the membership fee is supposed to encourage party, union and association membership, but the most important part of the financial resources depends mainly on electoral results. The importance of public funding has pernicious consequences, as the organisations depend less and less on the contributions of their members The fourth wave of European Values Survey for France in 2008 The European Values Survey throws some light on French political attitudes related to the topic of active citizenship. We present some of the most interesting results of the fourth wave survey of 2008, the precise figures are in the French fiche template on active citizenship. First, the figures show the lack of interest in politics. 6

7 On the whole, French citizens do not seem to be really interested in politics. Only the group with tertiary education shows a majority of people who are very or somewhat interested. The educational level has a strong influence as the interest in politics increases clearly with the education level, from 5.7 % (pre-primary education or none) to 22 % (first stage of tertiary education) who are "very interested". The reverse remains true with 45 % not at all interested for people with lower educational levels to 11.8 for those with the highest levels of education. Secondly, there are indicators of active citizenship like signing petitions, joining boycotts, attending demonstrations The educational level remains an important factor predicting a tendency to sign a petition (44.1% to 83.1%) as the educational level rises. Of course the explanation here is mixed relating to a better or weaker ability to read and write, but this is not a sufficient explanation as other items of the survey suggest. For example among the respondents, 60.5 % with the lowest educational level would never join a boycott, against 17 % with the highest level, who are 26.2 % to have done it against 8.2 % among those with pre-primary education or none. The educational level also increases the probability of joining a demonstration: less than 1 out of four with tertiary education are opposed to participating in lawful demonstrations, while nearly two-thirds of the respondents with pre-primary education or none express their opposition. Thirdly: little confidence in institutions: trade unions, political parties, democracy The survey shows quite a lot of confidence in institutions such as the armed forces, the education system, the police, the civil service, the social security system, and justice. Confidence is lower in other institutions like the church, the press and faith in political parties (50.3 % do not have very much confidence and 31.7 % none at all) and in government (39.4 % do not have very much, but 28.8 % none at all) which is critical. Even the lack of confidence towards trade unions is rather high (38.0% and 19.5%) but the differences according to the educational level are smaller than for other items. The citizens with the lowest levels of education are clearly less confident, but those with the highest level are very critical too. Fourth: little satisfaction on the whole The French do not seem very satisfied with democracy: only 2.3 % are very satisfied, 37.2 % rather satisfied, but 41.6 % are not very satisfied, and 18.9 % not at all satisfied Young people are rather less satisfied and women also, but the figures are close. The educational level does not introduce big differences, though tertiary education appears to provide some scepticism regarding the functioning of democracy. Concerning the government, the dominant opinion is that this political body is not very good Despite some variations, this opinion is quite evenly shared whatever the educational level or the age. Women, however, judge the government more severely. Faith in the idea that the political system needs a strong leader is judged fairly badly by 30.4 % and very badly by 42.6 %. The over 60 year-olds have slightly less reserve as only 27.3% think that a strong leader is not a good idea. The higher the education level, the lower the confidence in the benefits of a strong leader. 7

8 Four concluding remarks - The interest in politics and therefore in active citizenship in France is ambivalent. The relationship to politics seems highly influenced by the experience of politics. On the one hand, there does not seem to be much interest and there is a lack of confidence in the political actors. On the other hand, citizens seem quite active in their way of petitioning, demonstrating and following politics in the media or their intentions to vote. The rejection of a strong leader is interesting, in regards to the French political institutions and the importance of the elected president. - The influence of education is striking. What the relationship between education and active citizenship actually means is an interesting but complex topic. It would be dangerous to conclude that education is the problem. The difference between showing little interest in politics and at the same time accepting to be involved is another interesting result of this survey. A lot of expectations seem to remain in spite of deep disapointment, and this is quite profound for less privileged citizens. It seems that the (mal) functioning of democracy is more the problem, then the democracy per se. - The role of austerity does not seem to be the major explanation but it certainly does not help restore confidence in politics and active citizenship. It seems that there has been a growing feeling in France, over the last 15 years or so, that economic globalisation has an important impact on society and that national or local policies seem to be largely powerless to counterbalance such impact. - Some people feel that the situation requires more political integration at the European level and are active in favour of a federal Europe and European citizenship. But they represent only a minority. Other people think that European institutions are technocratic bodies conniving with the globalisation process and they adopt more nationalist attitudes. 8