Page 327 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes General Characteristics: Though France is a free and open society with a plural culture that manifests
itself in the existence and operation of different political parties and groups, the existence and
articulation of interest organisations in this country has its own characteristics that may be enumerated
as under:
1. The culture of France has its salient trait in the absence of a stable consensus that has its definite
impact on the existence and operation of both the political parties and the pressure groups. As
there are several parties, so there are numerous groups, both deriving inspiration from the
events of the past. It may be said that group divisions in this country are characterised by their
multiplicity, their intense ideological character and, what may be termed, the tenacity of ‘group
memories’. The divisions may be seen on regional, social, economic, cultural and political lines,
most of them are related to old quarrels on issues like economic freedom versus dirgisme, the
perennial question scolaire, the vague but ever present conflict between Left and Right which
reflects differences more in tendency and style than in substance.
2. The process of fragmentation of groups into sub-groups coupled with their further disintegration
creates a very perplexing spectacle. One feels astonished at the fact that even social and economic
groups whose objective interest appears to have a common denominator are divided and further
split into smaller splinter organisations so much that infiltration and cross-infiltration of one
type of people into another has become a moral affair of the stasiological politics in France. The
veterans, fanners, workers, artisans and middle classes merchants, teachers, students and public
servants are all spread out among a great number of organisations with conflicting political
affiliations and ideological outlooks. “There is no other major political system where the
multiplicity of professional and occupational groups is compounded to such an extent by the
ideological element. The interest groups are ‘politicised’, that is, impregnated with political
attitudes”.
3. The fact of diversity and multiplicity, as given above, is so outstanding that it prevents both the
parties and the pressure groups to form an autonomous sub-system in the realm of politics.
Sometimes, it appears that there is much of non-differentiation between the parties and groups.
As such, either a blurred boundary line between the two exists, or it would be too tedious a job to
draw such a line of demarcation. The features of division are so sharply set in the historical
consciousness of the people that they do not forget the past with the result that the existing lines
of cleavage are more sharpened and making of compromises becomes a still more difficult job.
4. Most of the people of France lack the tendency of rigid political commitments. They have a
flexible temperament like the Americans with the result that no political party can claim its
invariable support from a particular section or class of the society. Naturally, it enhances the
position of the groups at the cost of the parties. Most of the people consider the party they vote
for as only one of the groups that represent them and not necessarily the one which represents
them best, even politically. To many voting is a means of recording ideological preferences,
more than a means of choosing a delegate.
In normal times the citizenry aligns itself with political groupings identified with the traditional
political ideologies.
5. Owing to the absence of a strong and disciplined party system, the politics of interest groups
has a flourishing form in France. One of the commonest political illusions is the belief that the
removal of the party whip would force the politician to search according to the dictates of his
conscience for that nebulous ideal called the ‘general will’. In the real world party discipline
often constrains a member, but it protects him too. It helps to screen him against the demands
of influential groups which claim to control marginal votes in his constituency. And it greatly
reduces the danger of parliamentary corruption, since it is easier to enforce responsibilities
upon a party than upon an individual. Political morality is low where authority is diffused.
Responsibility in France is not enforced by a coherent opposition upon a government with
undisputed power.
Kinds of Pressure Groups: As pointed out above, pressure groups exist in France in all walks of
life—social, economic, political and the like. Almost every interest group is solidly organised with

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