Liberal Democracy (France)
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Liberal Democracy (, , DL) was a conservative-liberal
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in France which existed from 1997 to 2002. Led by
Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet f ...
, it replaced the Republican Party (PR), the classical liberal component of the
Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...
(UDF). It merged into the
Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...
(UMP) between the two rounds of the 2002 presidential election.


History

After Madelin won the leadership of the Republican Party on 24 June 1997 with 59.9% of the vote, he renamed the organisation 'Liberal Democracy', and moved the party further towards
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
. This followed the formation of the Democratic Force (FD) by the centrist,
Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
component of the
Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...
(UDF), leading to internal rivalry.Van Hecke and Gerard (2004), p. 208 Liberal Democracy became independent in 1998, after a split from the UDF. The immediate cause of this departure was Liberal Democracy's refusal to condemn the election of four UDF president of Regional Councils with the votes of the National Front. However, the party had already feared that a tighter UDF would be dominated by economic centrists, preventing his free-market policies being heard. Thus, Liberal Democracy voted on 16 May 1998 to become a separate party, with Madelin launching the 'Ten Tough Choices' programme advocating transforming the political debate in France.Sauger (2004), p. 134 The economic liberals that refused to break ranks with the UDF launched the Independent Republican and Liberal Pole, which later merged with FD and the so-called 'Direct Adherents' to form the New UDF. In the 1999 EU elections DL ran with the RPR list led by
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
. However, the pro-European tone of the RPR-DL campaign deceived and the list was placed in third, behind the eurosceptic RPF list led by
Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's ''cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government ...
and
Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet f ...
,
Françoise Grossetête Françoise Grossetête (born 17 May 1946) is a French politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the South-East of France from 1994 until 2019. She is a member of The Republicans; part of the European People's Party. Early l ...
,
Thierry Jean-Pierre Thierry Jean-Pierre (1955–2005) was a French judge and Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliam ...
and
Hervé Novelli Hervé Novelli (born 6 March 1949) is a French politician of Italian origin, and a past member of the UDF group. He was a deputé in the Assemblée Nationale for the Indre-et-Loire département from 2002 to 2007, having previously been a dépu ...
. In the 2002 presidential election, the party split; while Alain Madelin obtained only 3.91% of the votes, party's Vice-President
Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005 under President Jacques Chirac. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Un ...
endorsed incumbent
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...
. After Chirac won, he appointed Raffarin as
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
on 6 May 2002. At the June 2002 legislative election, DL competed in alliance with the
Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic ( ; RPR ) was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaul ...
and other Chirac supporters as the Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP). On 21 September 2002, DL voted by 15,770 votes to 2,930 to merge with the RPR and pro-Chirac elements of the UDF. The merger was completed on 17 November 2002, creating the
Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...
.


Ideology

The party advocated
classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...
: promoting less government intervention as the solution to both economic and social problems. In
René Rémond René Rémond (; 30 September 1918 – 14 April 2007) was a French historian, political scientist and political economist. Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques (JEC France in 1943) and ...
's schematic of the French right, it represented the
Orléanist Orléanist () was a 19th-century French political label originally used by those who supported a constitutional monarchy expressed by the House of Orléans. Due to the radical political changes that occurred during France in the long nineteenth ...
strain. In contrast to the 'advanced liberalism' of
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...
, which still involved social conservatism, Madelin's was more consistently classical liberal and economically similar to
Thatcherism Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character a ...
. On economics, DL was systematically more free-market than the UDF.Sauger (2004), p. 136 In 1998, the party advocated cutting spending from 50% to 45% within five years, along with reducing the top
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
rate to 35%.Sauger (2004), p. 135 Madelin had been fired as Minister of the Economy and Finances in
Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the c ...
's government for proposing cutting public sector pay and benefits. As a presidential candidate in 2002, he renewed these calls, along with widespread public sector competition and
privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
. It was also more secular than the UDF's centrist, Christian democratic elements from which it split, despite being dominated by well-known Catholics. Reflecting this Catholicism, the party was morally conservative, if not always conservative in social policy, and also emphasised anti-corruption, thanks particularly to judge
Thierry Jean-Pierre Thierry Jean-Pierre (1955–2005) was a French judge and Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliam ...
. The party strongly opposed the dominance of
École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...
in public life, with its MPs calling in 2002 for its funding to be halved. In foreign policy, Liberal Democracy was strongly pro-American. Madelin set himself apart from the rest of the right after
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
by advocating total support for the United States.


Political support

After its split, Liberal Democracy gained about one-third of the UDF's supporters.Sauger (2004), p. 129 The party had significant support in rural areas. DL's supporters were overall wealthy, highly educated, and from a high
socio-economic class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wea ...
, even compared to the New UDF.Sauger (2004), p. 132 42% of DL voters earned over €22,500 a year, compared to 33% of New UDF. The party was firmly backed by managers, who made up 24% of DL's voters (18% for the New UDF); only 4% of DL voters were manual workers (13% for the New UDF).Sauger (2004), p. 131–2 50% of DL voters had high school diplomas, compared to 40% of New UDF voters.


Leaders

Throughout its existence,
Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet f ...
was Liberal Democracy's only President, with
Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005 under President Jacques Chirac. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Un ...
as his Vice-President.


Leaders in the National Assembly

* José Rossi (1998–2000) * Jean-François Mattei (2000–2002) *
François d'Aubert François d'Aubert (born 31 October 1943, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French politician. He is an auditor at the Court of Audit (France), Court of Audit. From 2002, he was minister delegate to research in Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government. ...
(2002)


See also

*
Liberal Democratic Party (France) The Liberal Democratic Party (, PLD) was a classical liberal political party in France. It was founded in 2008 by a split in the Liberal Alternative. It seeks to fulfil the same role as the former Liberal Democracy, uniting supporters of Alain ...


Footnotes


References

* *


External links

* * {{French centrist parties Classical liberal parties Conservative liberal parties Defunct liberal political parties Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Union for French Democracy Right-wing parties in France