Many consider National Front leader Marine Le Pen’s loss of the 2017 election a victory for the preservation of French democracy, as she is widely considered an anti-democratic populist. By Levitsky …
France’s Puzzling Polarization: A Case Study
Polarization can sometimes be a symptom of democratic erosion. A political climate that is sharply divided into two sides who are unable to compromise poses a major threat to a government founded on …
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The Populist Threat to the European Union
The European Union is often regarded as one of democracy’s largest triumphs. But as countries all over Europe face an increasingly threatening movement from the extreme right, should we be worried …
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Macron: The Next Louis XVI? by Kennen Sparks
The first protest against a fuel tax was on November 16th, 2018—at that time no one could have imagined that it would have ballooned into the largest series of protests in France since the infamous …
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The Red Lines of the Yellow Vests: How France’s Political Opportunity Structure Promotes Extra-Institutional Resistance by Benjamin Wuesthoff
For the past 21 weeks, France’s major cities have been gripped by an atmosphere of civil unrest as thousands of citizens take to the streets and voice their dissatisfaction with the politics and …
It Wasn’t Always This Way: How Republicans Went from Gatekeepers of Democracy to Promoters of Populism by Kyle Friant
Antipathy to liberal democracy has become a staple of the modern incarnation of the Republican Party, a move that is detrimental to the entire international community. In a myriad of examples over the …
Yellow Vest Protests in France by Joe Bodnar
The Yellow Vest protests mark a period of disruption in France’s long, disordered history with liberal democracy. Galvanized behind the symbol of high-visibility jackets, the Yellow Vests mobilized a …
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France’s 2017 Election- Fighting Populism and Backsliding by Mona Farzan @ UCLA
Democratic ideals were first introduced to France during the time of the French Revolution, in 1789. Since then, France has come a long way, and is currently referred to as an example of a strong …