Suchergebnisse

A description of economic problems that are seen to have arisen in France under the leadership of Francois Mitterrand. Since 1981, the French government has increased deficits & unemployment due to a lack of comprehensive vision. These crises are argued to have split leftist organizations & engendered a faction of prominent intellectuals who favor modernization & technocratic planning. In Michael Harrington Comments, Michael Harrington supports much of the foregoing analysis, but differs on three points: (1) Mitterrand is seen not to have lacked vision, but simply to have been committed to an outmoded ideology; (2) France's intellectuals are presently infatuated with the supply-&-demand curves of free enterprise & have not yet considered the social costs; & (3) Mitterrand, instead of causing France's economic difficulties, simply inherited them, although his solutions have been ineffectual. In Lewis Coser Replies, Coser suggests that Harrington's disagreements stem from nuances of interpretation. In general, the claims of both men are seen as complementary. R. McCarthy

AFTER MITTERRAND CAME TO POWER IN 1981, HE BEGAN WITH A FLURRY OF AMBITIOUS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MOVES. THE GOVERNMENT PROCEEDED WITH MEASURES OF DECENTRALIZATION THAT, SO IT HOPED, WOULD LOOSEN THE STRANGLEHOLD OF A CENTRAL BUREAUCRACY THAT HAD DOMINATED FRANCE SINCE THE DAYS OF NAPOLEON. IT ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY, DID AWAY WITH EXCEPTIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNALS, REDUCED THE STANDARD WORK WEEK BY AN HOUR, INCREASED THE RIGHTS AND REPRESENTATION OF WORKERS IN THE WORKPLACE, AND MADE VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN SOCIAL SECURITY. MOST OF THESE MEASURES, ADMIRABLE AS THEY WERE, WERE HARDLY PARTICULARLY SOCIALIST IN CHARACTER. THESE WERE STEPS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY A LEFT-LIBERAL REGIME.

AFTER FRANCOIS MITTERRAND WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF FRANCE IN MAY 1981, AND THE LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS OF JUNE 1981 GAVE THE SOCIALIST PARTY A SOLID MAJORITY IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, A SENSE OF EUPHORIA SPREAD THROUGH THE FRENCH LEFT, BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE NEW GOVERNMENT. EVERYTHING SEEMED POSSIBLE. IN ITS FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE THE NEW REGIME ATTEMPTED NOTHING LESS THAN A FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION NOT ONLY OF THE ECONOMY BUT OF THE WHOLE FABRIC OF FRENCH SOCIETY.