Political activists: French and Germans compared – Review of Oscar W. Gabriel, Silke I. Keil and Eric Kerrouche, Political Participation in France and Germany

Abstract

Political Participation in France and Germany Colchester, UK: ECPR Presses, 2012 is the first volume of its kind. Its editors, Oscar W. Gabriel, Silke I. Keil and Eric Kerrouche, have put together an original and unusual work that compares political behavior in the two neighboring countries in a direct manner. While considering multiple forms of political activism, from conventional events to unconventional acts, the authors of the various chapters highlight the many similarities and few differences that these two countries reveal in the way in which citizens act politically. In the end, the overall conclusions side with a stronger evidence of healthy political participation on the part of French and Germans alike, despite their respective countries’ different political systems, but with a peculiar preference for unconventional, violence-prone protest activities in France, contrary to the corresponding German support for law-abiding acts. The volume’s findings seem to replicate a historical stereotype of the two countries, according to previous groundwork in comparative political behavior studies.