Thomas Piketty: 'The idea that the country should be governed by bringing together all the so-called reasonable parties is a dangerous illusion'

Let's face it: France will not emerge from its current political crisis by inventing a new central coalition. The idea that the country should be governed by bringing together all the so-called "reasonable" parties, from the center-left to the center-right, from the Parti Socialiste (PS) to Les Républicains (LR), excluding the "extremes" – La France Insoumise (LFI) on the left and the Rassemblement National (RN) on the right – is a dangerous illusion, which will only lead to further disappointment and strengthen the extremes in question. Firstly, because this coalition of the reasonable looks very much like a coalition of the better-off. Excluding the working class from government is certainly not the way out of the democratic crisis. Secondly, electoral democracy needs clear and accepted alternations to function properly.

The virtue of the left-right bipolarization, provided that its content is sufficiently rapidly renewed in the face of global change, is that it makes such alternations possible. Two coalitions driven by antagonistic but coherent visions of the future and based on divergent socio-economic interests alternate in power, and this is how voters can form their opinions, adjust their votes and have confidence in the democratic system itself. It was this virtuous model that enabled the consolidation of democracy throughout the 20^th century, and it is toward a new left-right bipolarization that we must move today if we wish to avoid democratic disintegration.

Territorial divide

Once that's acknowledged, how do we proceed? In countries with a first-past-the-post system, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, bipolarization is a matter of course. But you have to know what kind of bipolarization you want. Across the Channel, Labour has replaced the Conservatives, but with a program so timid that it is already generating mistrust, having won power with a low score and thanks to very strong divisions on the right. Across the Atlantic, bipolarization has turned in on itself. After abandoning any redistributive ambitions, the Democrats have become, over the last few decades, the party of the most highly educated, and of the highest income earners.

You have 62.4% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.