ABSTRACT
As Giscard, on his departure from the leadership of the Union pour la Democratic Francaise (UDF) remarked, the centre was disunited before his time and although it was united for twenty years with his guidance, it would be another twenty years before it rediscovered its unity. UDF internal politics illustrated a division familiar in Liberalism elsewhere in Europe: between free market and social/interventionist wings. As the leaders of the main centre parties had already been working together in government, the next step was to overcome old divisions by regrouping the centre into a confederation - the UDF. In February 1978, the Union pour la Democratie Francaise was jury-rigged by supporters of President Giscard d'Estaing to bring together the non-Gaullist centre parties for the general elections in March that year. UDF leaders have had to retain their autonomy but also contribute to the success of the conservative coalition and, latterly, deal with the threat posed by the Front National.
