*Event updated 10.13.23*

The Centre of European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE), in partnership with the Department of Economics and the Centre des recherches politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF), is organising a general seminar with faculty member Julia Cagé and Thomas Piketty (EHESS, PSE) on the topic "Qui vote et pourquoi?", on the occasion of the publication of their book Une Histoire du Conflit Politique at Seuil (an English version is forthcoming in 2024 at Harvard University Press).

When? TUESDAY, October 17th - 12.30 to 2 pm
*Updated* Where? 27 rue Saint Guillaume - Amphi Emile Boutmy OR live via YouTube (once you are registered a link will be communicated).

If you would like to attend, you must register online (link)

Please note that the seminar will take place in French.

Editor's summary (translation):

"Who votes for whom and why? How has the social structure of the electorates of the different political currents in France changed between 1789 and 2022? Based on an unprecedented digitisation of electoral and socio-economic data from France's 36,000 communes and spanning more than two centuries, the book Une histoire du conflit politique. Élections et inégalités sociales en France, 1789-2022 offers a history of voting and inequalities based on France as a laboratory.

"As well as its historical interest, this book offers a fresh perspective on present day's political crises and their possible outcome. The tripartition of political life that emerged from the 2022 elections, with a central block made up of a socially advantaged electorate - and, according to the sources gathered here, the most bourgeois vote in the history of France - on the one hand, and, urban and rural working classes divided between the other two blocks, on the other, can only be properly analysed by a historical perspective. In particular, it is only by going back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when similar forms of tripartition were observed before bipolarisation prevailed for most of the last century, that we can understand the tensions at work today. The tripartition has always been unstable, whereas it is the bipartition that has enabled economic and social progress. A detailed comparison of the different configurations enables us to better envisage several possible development trajectories for the decades to come.

"To find out more, visit the book's companion site, which provides access to a wealth of data: unehistoireduconflitpolitique.fr."

For more information concerning this event, please consult the event page (in French)