French Presidential Election Reveals Divided Nation
The same splits we saw with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump appear in France.
Nick Ottens is a public affairs officer for the Dutch Animal Coalition and a board member for Liberal Green, the sustainability network of the Dutch liberal party VVD. He is a former political risk consultant and a former research manager for XPRIZE, where he designed prize competitions to incentivize breakthrough innovation in agriculture, food and health care. He has also worked as a journalist in Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York for EUobserver, NRC, Trouw, World Politics Review and Wynia’s Week, among others.
The same splits we saw with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump appear in France.
Social democrats lose when they try to be all things to all people.
France’s traditional parties have failed to adapt to a shift in the political landscape.
The French leftist’s views are much more extreme than the American’s.
Leadership battles continue to mar the nationalist party while the abating refugee crisis has taken the wind out of its sails.
English-language journalists tend to project their own doubts about the EU on the people living in it.
The prime minister calls for an early election despite earlier rejecting the need for one.
The president has reversed himself on major international issues, but he could just as easily change his mind again.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon climbs in the polls at the expense of the center-left Socialist Party.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has already made Turkey into an autocratic state. Now he wants even more power.
Do they prioritize voters in Catalonia or in other parts of Spain?
Left-right divisions have become less relevant.
Unlike his predecessor, Donald Trump doesn’t worry about being drawn into the Arab-Iranian cold war.
Commentators worry the American acted for the wrong reasons.
The Syrian dictator is not going to help defeat the self-declared caliphate. He helped create it.