France is a monarchy that undergoes a succession crisis every five years

October 28, 2021 4:08 AM

La Campagne is a newsletter about the upcoming French presidential election by French economist Manu Saadia (best known for his book Trekonomics). He was fed up with the inaccuracies of English language coverage of French politics, and decided to remedy that. He started with the basics, explaining voting procedures and why it is that French politics are so dominated by the office of the presidency. He's also written about the legacy of French defeat in Algeria, Covid's effect on the campaign and the rise of far-right candidate Éric Zemmour. The newsletter will continue until the election and its immediate aftermath.
posted by Kattullus (18 comments total)

Oops! I forgot to put quotation marks around the title. It's a quote from this post.
posted by Kattullus at 4:08 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

You really should have used this: “How can you govern a country that sports 258 varieties of cheese?” :-)
posted by scolbath at 5:08 AM on October 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

The one on Zemmour is a great, quick read. Key sentence:

What's new is that he is contesting Marine Le Pen's hold on the far right and expanding her somewhat limited base.

I'm not certain about the second assertion, but I'm not on the ground right now to observe. The piece does give some interesting context, it's worth a look.
posted by gimonca at 5:09 AM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

thank you for posting this. It's hard to find quality English language analyses of political conditions in countries outside the anglophone world.

Looking forward especially to the analysis of the longterm effects on France of the decolonization of North Africa... took a course in college long ago on the history of the region.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 5:54 AM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is fascinating, thank you.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:58 AM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Zemmour is a former columnist for RT, having written essays criticizing Europe, including complaining about the freezing of Putin's bank accounts. The Kremlin regularly provides financial backing to extremist right-wing political parties in Europe that push policy to destabilize the EU — including Le Pen's FN/RN — and I wouldn't be surprised if Zemmour has made use of prior connections from his time at RT that help underwrite similar political aspirations. He also repeats much of the same fascist playbook heard on Russia-influenced right-wing media in the US and Canada: French and French culture are being "replaced" by immigrants and particularly Muslims, gay and trans people are destroying traditional marriage and gender roles, etc.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:13 AM on October 28, 2021 [11 favorites]

Great post! Thank you. I look forward to diving deeper into this during the evening. And I like the title quote, I read that post, and learnt a lot. Also, Macron winning at soccer.
posted by mumimor at 10:32 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

While I understand that the "France is a monarchy ..." line is more about the out-sized nature of the French presidency's powers, I also learned recently that the French president is also technically an actual, literal monarch. Specifically, the president of France, as the French head of state, is also automatically one of the co-princes (!) of Andorra.
posted by mhum at 12:07 PM on October 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

They are also "First and Only Honorary Canon" of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, owing to the donation of a Benedictine abbey by Henry IV. Interesting as prior office holders Hollande and Mitterand were atheists.
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 1:53 PM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Mitterrand and Hollande (and Pompidou too, I think) both refused the title. Macron, like most of his predecessors, accepted it.
posted by Kattullus at 2:05 PM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

These are excellent, thanks for posting them! (I wish there were someone with similar clarity writing about Italy…)
posted by progosk at 2:21 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this.
English language written media coverage of French (and most other European politics) is dire.
posted by adamvasco at 2:33 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have never understood how the President of the French Republic can also hold a title a nobility. Its absurd.
posted by os tuberoes at 5:17 PM on October 28, 2021

There is a book called The Bonjour Effect that helped me wrap my head around French politics a bit. (It might have been 50 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong.) If you think it's weird that the president can also be a prince...the president can also simultaneously be mayor of Paris! All political systems have their weirdnesses, but France is just a little weirder than average.
posted by rednikki at 7:07 PM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

From the post on Zemmour and Algeria and France

His [Zemmour] dubious argument was that criticizing French colonization amounted to supporting ISIS terrorists, and sounded very much like a throwback to the turbulent days of the war in Algeria – when say, Communist militants were accused of aiding the FLN and on occasions were tortured and murdered by French troops. Anybody who dared question the Army or Algérie Française was branded a traitor or a terrorist.

To his honor and credit, Emmanuel Macron began the difficult process of truth and reconciliation. In 2017 he spoke of the “crimes against humanity” of colonization. And even as Zemmour was ranting about “civilizing the barbarians” Macron laid a wreath by the Pont de Bezons, to commemorate the anniversary of the June 17, 1961 massacre, when the Paris police killed an estimated 200 Algerian demonstrators and threw their bodies in the river Seine. An “unforgivable crime” for the République, the President called it. Zemmour retorted by accusing Macron of “rewriting the history of France, always to its detriment.”

posted by spamandkimchi at 8:29 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Thanks for these links. The one on De Gaulle prompted me to watch a documentary series on the Algerian War (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I had no idea how much De Gaulle waged war - sometimes bordering on actual war - on the French settlers and soldiers in Algeria in order to force them to finally accept the end of their colony, and what a close-run thing it was for the military might of France in Algeria to not be turned back on metropolitan France itself. Would a Fascist or military dictatorship like the one in Spain have been out of the question in France had De Gaulle slipped up?
posted by clawsoon at 8:59 AM on October 29, 2021

There’s a new post or missive or issue or whatever we call individual units of newsletter. It’s about an arcane electoral procedure, which might trip up Zemmour, but won’t prove an obstacle to the well organized Trotskyite candidate.
posted by Kattullus at 1:18 PM on October 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Late but thanks for this, some of the best English language analysis I’ve seen, and this is the first presidential election I can vote in after getting citizenship! I know who not to vote for but not so much who I want to vote for!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:15 AM on November 9, 2021 [1 favorite]