ABSTRACT
Problems of relations with other parties have exercised the Gaullists and the Giscardians as much as public policy issues. Under Pompidou, majority politicians (especially the Gaullists) were divided over how far to ‘open’ the coalition towards the Centre. Under the Giscard presidency, the Gaullists sought bloody confrontation with the union of the Left, and were deeply suspicious of Giscard’s more low-key approach. The Socialists’ second double victory, in 1988, led some centrists to contemplate a working alliance with them, and two to join the Rocard government. The problem of how to deal with Le Pen provoked years of disputes in both parties. The moderate Right parties were caught completely unprepared. Both counted among their ranks supporters of the whole range of different responses available, from outright attack (if necessary in co-operation with the Socialists in a ‘Republican Front’), to limited local agreements, to a full national alliance. The electoral quarantine they eventually chose certainly helped to contain and finally to split the FN. But its corollary, the adoption of policies and rhetoric designed to appease voters tempted by the far Right, helped legitimise Le Pen’s discourse with voters. And neither policy went uncontested within the moderate Right.
