Abstract
This article reviews evidence bearing upon the question of political orders and eras in recent French politics. It places this evidence against the legacy of revolutionary republicanism, with its idealized version of political identity and citizenship. Looking at social cleavages, intermediary organizations, and political institutions, the article finds that there has been a constant evolution over the course of the Fifth Republic. At the level of fundamental policy debate, there has also been an evolution, although rather more mitigated. The article concludes by considering the opportunities for a new political direction afforded to the incoming president elected in May 2007, Nicholas Sarkozy. It argues that the diminution of the power of the central state, coupled with a new sense of political competition at all levels, means that the possibility of a neoliberal era is very real.
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