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Can amateurs transform politics? And what do they tell us about what politics is? This book is based on a rare social experiment. In 2017, in the aftermath of Macron's election in France, over 100 novices were elected to the French parliament. The author followed their steps during these five years. The result is a gripping story about their discovery of this peculiar world, which sheds lights on pressing contemporary debates about democratic rejuvenation.
About the author
Étienne Ollion is a CNRS Research Director and Professor of Sociology at l'École Polytechnique.
Summary
In 2017, the French political class experienced a small revolution. After decades marked by the ever more pronounced presence of career politicians in positions of power, the country elected a new President with limited experience. And in the aftermath of Emmanuel Macron's victory, an unusual legislature was elected. Rejuvenated, feminised, it was also made up of more than a hundred complete political novices.
In The Candidates, author Étienne Ollion follows an ethnographic journey among these new MPs, while drawing on massive digital data analysed with artificial intelligence methods. The result is a gripping story about their discovery of this peculiar world, which sheds lights on pressing contemporary debates about democratic rejuvenation.
Additional text
“Ollion deftly mobilizes a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods to show how, in spite of this striking renewal of personnel, an institutionalized “waiting line” continued to regulate access to the levers of power. The demonstration is brilliant and essential, with implications for the study of politics everywhere.”
Marion Fourcade, UC Berkeley
