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) engages in international negotiations, but also vice versa: discourses that evolve in the international realm feed back into domestic politics and power struggles among domestic groups such as political parties. The French case is more intriguing. In the 1995 presidential elections, Jacques Chirac was elected president. In the subsequent 1997 parliamentary elections, Chirac’s party, the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR), lost a considerable number of seats in the Assemblé Nationale, which led to a cohabitation for the next electoral term. From 1997 to 2002, the
French Socialists and the formation of a right-wing government under Jacques Chirac. Reagan had been resoundingly re-elected in 1984 and Helmut Kohl was as comfortably ensconced in government in West Germany as Thatcher was in Britain. The socialist governments in Spain and Greece offered little consolation. The Spanish Socialists (PSOE) in office made a virtue of pragmatism and moderation, justifying their policies in terms of the country’s necessary modernisation via integration into the European Economic Community (EEC) and NATO. They had no use for socialist
economic pressures (Bourg, 2007: 305; Hobsbawm, 1994: 411). Moreover, the government had been complicit in the bombing in New Zealand of Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear ship, the Rainbow Warrior, resulting in the death of a photographer (Katsiaficas, 1987: 114). Debray’s political star fell even further, however, when he participated in a commission established at the behest of the conservative President Jacques Chirac, and which recommended the banning of the hijab in schools (Birchall, 2007). For the radical Debray of the late 1960s, the political juncture of the times
of France but also of Europe. The relationship that unites the current president Jacques Chirac to France symbolised by the French flag are transferred to Europe and to the European flag. Chirac becomes the representative of Europe, a political leader playing a global role on equal footing with leaders such as George Bush and Vladimir Putin. Chirac thus represents not only France, but also Germany, Great Britain and the other European Union member-states. In other terms, we are witnessing in the case of the rotating European Union presidency a symbolic
to Jacques Chirac in the first round of voting and thereby to enter the run-off, when many chagrined Socialists found themselves voting for right-wing Chirac in order to keep out the far right. Socialist Laurent Fabius announced in 2003 that he favoured the introduction of compulsory voting for National Assembly elections (Service des Etudes Juridiques, 2003: 5). The bill introduced at that time was defeated, however. The evidence from New Zealand, the Netherlands and Germany that support for compulsory voting is associated with right-wing parties therefore appears
the organisation of regular inter-governmental meetings and of a yearly summit between the French President and the Spanish Prime Minister confirmed the good relationship between the two neighbouring countries. 41 The French co-operation against ETA would further evolve when in 1986, short of a parliamentary majority, President Mitterrand was pushed to cohabit with the opposition. 42 With Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister and Charles Pasqua as Minister of the Interior
is the great persuader’, a close aide comments. ‘He thinks he can convert people even when it might seem as if he doesn’t have a cat in hell’s chance of succeeding. Call him naïve, call it what you will, but he never gives up. He would say things like “I can get Jacques (Chirac) to do this” or “leave Putin to me”.’ A French official, noting the same tendency, suggests that ‘there is not a single problem that Blair thinks he cannot solve with his own personal engagement – it could be Russia, it could be Africa’. This high belief in personal efficacy does come with
and services during 1995 and to determine the cost-of-living adjustment that should be carried out for 1996. 54 While the GCWL demanded a 76 per cent wage increase, business representatives were unwilling to offer more than 15 per cent. At this point, the committee suspended its meetings. 55 As a response to the Government’s silence and inaction, the GCWL decided to use the imminent visit of the French President Jacques Chirac to pressure the Government and therefore issued an ultimatum: the Government would answer the
, in a concerted attempt to keep the leadership young and radicalised. The Audois small-holder was committed to pushing the boundaries of direct action to frighten merchants and force the hand of government. He led a group of commandoes against Jean Doumeng, a merchant who was close to the Communist party and had actually participated in the formation of MODEF. His political associations had previously rendered him untouchable, yet in striking out against Doumeng, Romain had affirmed the independence of the CRAV. Subsequent confrontations with Jacques Chirac saw the
But on this occasion it used its political influence to bolster the claim, with President Bill Clinton phoning Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl shortly before the missile strikes to ask for their support. Without having time to consult their legal experts, all three agreed – and made concurring public statements immediately after the U.S. action. As a result of these quick expressions of support by three influential states, other countries were more restrained in their responses than they might have been. This in turn helped obfuscate the