In May 2012, French voters rejected the liberalizing policies of Nicolas Sarkozy and elected his opponent, the Socialist Francois Hollande, president. In June 2012, the incumbent president''s center-right UMP party was swept out of government in the ensuing parliamentary elections, giving way to a new center-left majority in the National Assembly. This book analyzes the contexts and results of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections in France. It assesses the legacies of the Sarkozy presidency that informed the 2012 electoral campaigns, scrutinizing his domestic social and economic policies on the one hand and European and foreign policies on the other. In turn, the elections'' outcomes are also analyzed from the standpoint of various political parties and other institutional interests in France, and the results are situated within the broader run of French political history. Finally, the book examines the principal challenges facing the Hollande administration and new government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, and assesses how effectively these have been met during their first year in office.

In May 2012, French voters rejected the liberalizing policies of Nicolas Sarkozy and elected his opponent, the Socialist François Hollande, president. In June 2012, the incumbent president’s center-right UMP party was swept out of government in the ensuing parliamentary elections, giving way to a new center-left majority in the National Assembly. This book analyzes the contexts and results of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections in France. It assesses the legacies of the Sarkozy presidency that informed the 2012 electoral campaigns, scrutinizing his domestic social and economic policies on the one hand and European and foreign policies on the other. In turn, the elections’ outcomes are also analyzed from the standpoint of various political parties and other institutional interests in France, and the results are situated within the broader run of French political history. Finally, the book examines the principal challenges facing the Hollande administration and new government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, and assesses how effectively these have been met during their first year in office.

List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors

Introduction
Gabriel Goodliffe

PART I: THE PRESIDENCY

Chapter 1. The Fifth Republic and its Presidents
Jean-François Sirinelli

Chapter 2. Socialists in the Elysée Palace: from Mitterrand to Hollande
Marco Gervasoni 

Chapter 3. The TV-Presidency: From de Gaulle’s ‘Télécratie’ to Hollande’s ‘Normal Presidency’
Riccardo Brizzi

PART II: THE POLITICAL PARTIES

Chapter 4. The UMP after Sarkozy
Florence Haegel

Chapter 5. The Year of the Rose: The Socialist Victory of 2012
Gérard Grunberg 

Chapter 6. The Pyrrhic Victory of the Radical Left
Philippe Buton

Chapter 7. In Search of the Center
Gilles Le Béguec

Chapter 8. The Resurgence of the Front National
Gabriel Goodliffe

PART III: THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN AND HOLLANDE'S CHALLENGES

Chapter 9. Hollande’s Economic Agenda
Jacques Fayette

Chapter 10. Europe in the 2012 French Presidential Election
Renaud Dehousse and Angela Tacea 

Chapter 11. Hollande and Sarkozy’s Foreign Policy Legacy
Frédéric Charillon

Chapter 12. Immigration and the 2012 Elections in France
Ariane Chebel d’Apollonia

Conclusion: Assessing the Hollande Presidency One Year into Office
Riccardo Brizzi

Bibliography
Index