The issues.
Fifteen essays across four themes: memory and identity, power and voting, political realignment, and media and polls.
Research cutoff: 29 October 2026.
Memory & Identity
Who Gets to Define “Extreme” in French Politics?
Before a political argument can be won, someone has already named its participants. Watch what that naming makes easier to see, and easier to ignore.
Does France Have an Obsession with Islam? Yes.
How ordinary objects become tests of national belonging, and what disappears when a political problem is reduced to a suspicious identity.
France Has Not Worked Through Its Colonial Past: Memory, Denial, and the Politics of Moving On
A hierarchy of rights once organized empire. The question today is not whether every inequality is identical to colonialism, but how that history enters citizenship, memory and political possibility.
Everyone Wants the French Revolution. Nobody Wants the Whole Inheritance.
The Republic’s vocabulary is not a museum collection. Its promises remain standards against which political power can be tested.
Everyone Claims de Gaulle. Which de Gaulle Are They Claiming?
One historical figure. Several incompatible political inheritances. Follow the selection before accepting the succession.
Power & Voting
Le barrage républicain (The Republican Barrier): Voting for Someone, or Against Someone Else?
66.10%. Then 58.55%. Macron’s two runoff victories were decisive results, not surveys of unconditional enthusiasm.
France’s President and Prime Minister: Who Governs, and How Do They Share Power?
The Élysée is powerful. It is not a machine that turns every campaign sentence into law.
Why Are People Protesting in France?
The image of a burning object can become the whole event. A serious account keeps demands, crowd estimates, police actions and violence in separate fields.
French Political Parties: Beyond Left, Right, and “The Center”
Republican does not mean Republican. Liberal does not always mean liberal. Start with the institutions and the disagreements, not an imported translation.
How Does France Finance Presidential Campaigns?
In preparation — article not yet published.
Political Realignment
How the Socialist Party Lost Its Presidential Electorate, and LFI Became the Main Challenger on the Left
Separating a presidential candidate, a political movement, elected representatives and a project for a different republic.
Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, and the Right’s Changing Centre of Gravity
A party’s image, organization and proposals can change at different speeds. The RN must be examined on all three, not judged by a logo or a surname.
After Macron: Who Inherits Macronism?
The individual must leave. A governing language, institutional habits and competing claims to competence do not necessarily leave with him.
Reconquête! and the Politics of Contradiction: From Television Provocation to Presidential Program
An attention-grabbing statement and a workable law have different obligations. Put the program through the second test.
Media & Polls
What Do the Polls Say? French Presidential Election Polls, and How They Frame the Race
Before a percentage becomes a headline, somebody chooses the candidates, the question, the sample, and the story. Follow the production process.
Who Owns French Media? Democracy, Editorial Independence, and the Power to Inform
Ownership matters. So do sourcing, vocabulary, newsroom rules and the difference between reporting a claim and endorsing it.
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Teaching and learning
Intended audience: Undergraduate students in French studies, history, political science and related fields; independent adult learners.
Suggested uses: Guided reading, seminar discussion, comparative political analysis and media-literacy activities.
After using this resource, learners should be able to:
- Explain the electoral and institutional context of the election examined.
- Compare candidates or political positions using the sources available in this resource.
- Distinguish official results, polling scenarios and critical interpretation.
Use the objectives that correspond to the material available on this page. Collection pages provide entry points to individual resources; unfinished or unavailable material is not a completed learning activity.
Original materials © Dr. Amine Zidouh / French Politics, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 unless otherwise indicated. When sharing or reproducing covered material, credit Dr. Amine Zidouh and French Politics, link to the source and license, and identify changes. Images, protest signs, artworks and other third-party materials are excluded. See Rights, Credits & Educational Reuse for scope, attribution and the as-is disclaimer.