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The representativeness of French cabinet members in the Fifth Republic: A smokescreen?

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

On the basis of a prosopography of French ministers between 1986 and 2012, this article investigates the social rationales at work in the constitution of French cabinets: social specificities mentioned by the media (parity, ‘diversity’, generational change), but also less often mentioned social specificities (social and political trajectories). French ministers hold the most legitimate educational, social and political resources. The importance of political and electoral resources underlines the autonomization and the relative closure of the political field. A qualitative analysis on some ministers clarifies the limitations of change in the ruling political class: ministers often heralded as symbols of a newly opened political recruitment are in fact experienced professionals of politics.

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Notes

  1. In order to objectify this assertion, we have carried out a press analysis about the making of three cabinets in 2002, 2007 and 2012. The analysis includes all the articles published about cabinet composition in four French daily newspapers (Libération, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, l’Humanité) after the presidential and legislative elections.

  2. French Prime Ministers are free to appoint ministers that are not members of Parliament (National Assembly and Senate).

  3. For a similar analysis regarding the British Parliament, see Norris and Lovenduski (1995).

  4. Secretaries of state and minister delegates are ministers with special responsibilities in a given field.

  5. François Hollande is the only president of the Fifth Republic who has never been a minister. We included him in the database.

  6. The De Villepin cabinet, which includes fewer members, is an exception.

  7. Electoral capital is a form of political capital that encompasses the various mandates held by ministers during their political career and especially before reaching the cabinet level.

  8. See, for example, French political science textbooks: Dulong (2010), Hubé (2009), Lagroye et al (2012).

  9. In order to be able to compare our data with older data, we have counted mandates in the National Assembly and in the Senate as parliamentarian experience but disregarded European Parliament mandates.

  10. Both are considered as ‘éléphants’ (veterans) of the PS: Fabius, born in 1946, began his career in government in 1981. He became the youngest French Prime Minister in 1984 (until 1986). He is nowadays the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Ayrault cabinet. Aubry, born in 1950, began her career in government in 1991. She was the First Secretary of the PS from 2008 to 2012 and is currently mayor of the city of Lille.

  11. Julien Dray was one of the founders of SOS-Racisme and of the ‘Gauche socialiste’ faction in the PS.

  12. Former Secretary of State in charge of Ecology (2002–2004).

  13. Former Minister with special responsibility for equal opportunities (2005–2007).

  14. Rama Yade had asked to be entrusted with ‘general responsibilities’ rather than international cooperation or suburban areas, which are associated with “diversity backgrounds’.

  15. See for instance the growing share of ENA graduates among administrators of major French companies (Dudouet and Joly, 2010).

  16. About the French case for example, Petitfils (2012) has shown that in recent years, the sociological profile of UMP activists and leaders has deeply changed.

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Acknowledgements

This article has received support from Projex Europe (University of Strasbourg Initiative of Excellence). We thank Jean-Yves Bart for helpful comments.

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  1. Laboratory SAGE, CNRS, University of Strasbourg, Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme d’Alsace, 5 allée du Général Rouvillois, Strasbourg Cedex, 67083, France

    Valentin Behr & Sébastien Michon

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  1. Valentin Behr
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  2. Sébastien Michon
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Correspondence to Sébastien Michon.

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Behr, V., Michon, S. The representativeness of French cabinet members in the Fifth Republic: A smokescreen?. Fr Polit 11, 332–355 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2013.13

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