A discussion on whether the present difficulties of the mainstream right in France are due to more short-term factors or to deep-seated causes stretching back beyond the origins of the 5th Republic.
This paper examines the key reasons behind the decline of the mainstream right wing at various points in the past and assesses their relevance on present-day French political and social life. It looks at how given their pre-eminence over other right wing parties and relatively moderate views and policies, the RPR and UDF constitute the definition of “mainstream” Right. It attempts to show that short-term factors are responsible for creating the recent difficulties of the mainstream Right and how and solutions to these problems are impeded by a number of factors, which have adversely affected the right over a number of years.
“Immediately following the creation of the 5th Republic, the Right in France entered an unprecedented period of political domination, yet this began to wane following the death of Charles de Gaulle in 1974. Much of the Right’s success in the previous two decades could be attributed to the presence of De Gaulle, but without him, the Gaullists found themselves losing support relative to other Right Wing parties. To French voters, the Gaullist Party had seemed the natural party of government throughout the 1960s as it provided domestic cohesion with strong institutions, a powerful executive presidency, a vigorous economy, worker participation in firms and social protection.”