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 …