The Divorce between Public-Sector Employees and West European Socialist Parties

Abstract

Determining the extent to which public-sector employees have moved away from socialist or social democratic parties is a major question in recent political history. This question is especially important in France, where civil servants, under the Fifth Republic at least, constitute the core of the socialist electorate. Electoral studies show that a divorce has occurred between France’s civil servants and the French Socialist Party since 2012. This does not mean, though, that civil servants have converted to market values. This divorce primarily reflects a weakening of cultural liberalism, affecting both public-sector and private-sector employees, and a strong demand for authority. The split between civil servants and the Socialist Party means that social democracy, in France and elsewhere, is losing its social base.