by Joseph Bodnar | Feb 6, 2019 | American University
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 catch-all consensus against the status quo in France, against the...
by MONA NIKKI FARZAN | Mar 14, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles
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 democracy. However, there are now forces in France that threaten...
by HELOISE RACHEL CECILE THERESE HAKIMI-LE GRAND | Mar 13, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles
On April 23rd 2017, what many French people and analysts abroad feared happened: the far-right, with 21.3% of the votes, was a round close to the presidency. But why were people so scared of Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National (FN), coming to power? Most of...
by Imane Gilles | Feb 15, 2018 | Columbia University
Emmanuel Macron’s election in 2017 appeared as the defeat of Marine Le Pen’s populism. Yet, the president embodied as a candidate an innovative populism that imposes upon us to rethink the catch-all term, perhaps to ban it from our political vocabulary. Theories...
by Maximilian Bottinger | Feb 14, 2018 | Columbia University
The reputable German news outlet Die Welt is recently cited as saying that, “The alternative to [Angela] Merkel is not the Alternative for Germany, it is [Sebastian] Kurz.” The 31-year old Austrian Chancellor has become a sort of rock star in Europe, famous for his...