France’s Elections Show the Need for a New Revolution

The Country’s Centralized Model Is a Danger to Democracy. Local Communities Could Fill the Void

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Might this month’s French elections be the prelude to another French Revolution?

The problems with these dismal elections are many—low turnout, moribund public debate, the popularity of politicians running as Putinist populists, and an uninspiring incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron. But at the heart of the French democratic recession is a void where local democracy should be.

That void stems from France’s highly centralized system of government.

Democracy, at its core, is a local thing—everyday people governing themselves. But France’s powerful national government, and its administrative …

Emmanuel Macron’s Centrist Victory May Only Add Fuel to the Populist Fire

France’s Middle-of-the-Road Strategy Risks Alienating the Left, Enraging the Right, and Inspiring Almost No One

Last year, the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President sparked fears of a worldwide populist revolt. But when Geert Wilders’s right-wing …