ABSTRACT
By his own admission, Francois Mitterrand – a man of letters and philosophical reflection – was very much an economic novice prior to his election as president. His discomfort with economic issues had become apparent during the 1974 presidential election campaign, when the candidate of the united left appeared in an unfavourable light in a televised confrontation with Giscard d’Estaing. During the 1981 presidential election campaign, Mitterrand repeated that, with sufficient willpower, the Left would be able to carry out its radical programme and overcome the obstacles to reform represented by the economic constraints of the existing capitalist system. Mitterrand’s position was contested vigorously by his great rival Rocard, who adopted a mendesiste attitude that social change must be compatible with sound management of the economy. Mitterrand initially resisted the introduction of a tighter, anti-inflationary economic policy, urged with increasing insistence by Jacques Delors, and later by Pierre Mauroy.
