The First Year. The Normal President and Time

Abstract

This chapter and the next will evaluate and analyse the first two-and-ahalf years of François Hollande’s five-year presidency and explain not simply ‘what happened’ but also the way the new President and government contributed to the way politics and the republic itself developed, how they perceived what was happening, how what happened happened, and how François Hollande and his government and the opposition responded to the challenges and ‘events’ of the period. ‘Year I’ (May 2012–August 2013) was a process whereby Hollande put into practice (often by not taking action) his conception of the presidency. It became increasingly clear, however, that the new President and his image, style, and actions were evidence of a mis-reading of the practical politics demanded by the prevailing situation, and an equal mis-reading of the symbolism of the presidency and its ‘performative demands’. Year II, from August 2013 to the September rentrée 2014 saw a series of initiatives to counter and remedy the deteriorating situation, all to little avail as an accumulating series of setbacks, gaffes (couacs), and inadequate initiatives and responses (invariably reactive rather than proactive) saw the popularity of the President fall to a level (by September 2014 in some polls he was at 13% and falling) that raised the question of whether he would even be forced to resign.