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Peter Bloom

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Peter Bloom is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts . He obtained his BA in music at Swarthmore College , his Ph.D. in musicology at the University of Pennsylvania , and studied the oboe with John de Lancie at the Curtis Institute of Music .

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68-492: Professor Bloom came to Smith College in 1970 and retired in 2017. He specializes in European composers of the 19th century, has published on Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, and Claude Debussy, but is best known for his books, editions, and essays on the life and work of Hector Berlioz. He is an editor of Berlioz's complete correspondence and complete music criticism; his new edition of Les Mémoires d'Hector Berlioz appeared from

136-574: A Neo-Gaullist group, the Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's first tenure as prime minister was also an arguably progressive one, with improvements in both the minimum wage and the social welfare system carried out during the course of his premiership. After his departure from the cabinet, Chirac wanted to gain the leadership of the political right, to gain the French presidency in the future. The RPR

204-547: A "yes" vote in the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty , against the opinion of Pasqua, Séguin and a majority of the RPR voters, who chose to vote "no". While he still was mayor of Paris (since 1977), Chirac went to Abidjan ( Côte d'Ivoire ) where he supported President Houphouët-Boigny (1960–1993), although the latter was being called a "thief" by the local population. Chirac then declared that multipartism

272-558: A close friend of the president, and won. As mayor of Paris, Chirac's political influence grew. He held this post until 1995. Chirac supporters point out that, as mayor, he provided programmes to help the elderly, people with disabilities, and single mothers, and introduced the street-cleaning Motocrotte , while providing incentives for businesses to stay in Paris. His opponents contend that he installed " clientelist " policies. In 1978, Chirac attacked Giscard's pro-European policy and made

340-659: A communist cell. In 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired Stockholm Appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons – which led him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States. In 1953, after graduating from the Sciences Po , he attended a non-credit course at Harvard University 's summer school, before entering the École nationale d'administration , which trains France's top civil servants, in 1957. In

408-566: A housewife. His grandparents were all teachers from Sainte-Féréole in Corrèze . His great-grandparents on both sides were peasants in the rural south-western region of the Corrèze . According to Chirac, his name "originates from the langue d'oc , that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". He was a Catholic . Chirac was an only child (his elder sister, Jacqueline, died in infancy nearly ten years before his birth). He

476-399: A journalist and campaigner, first used the term. The term was used by Jonathan Benthall in an Anthropology Today editorial in 1991 and by John Langmore and John Quiggin in their 1994 book Work for All . According to economist John Quiggin, the standard features of economic fundamentalist rhetoric are dogmatic assertions combined with the claim that anyone who holds contrary views

544-465: A military intervention against the separatists in the Ouvéa cave , leading to the deaths of 19 militants. He allegedly refused any alliance with Jean-Marie Le Pen 's Front National . Chirac ran against Mitterrand for a second time in the 1988 election . He obtained 20 per cent of the vote in the first round, but lost the second with only 46 per cent. He resigned from the cabinet and the right lost

612-558: A nationalist turn with the December 1978 Call of Cochin , initiated by his counsellors Marie-France Garaud and Pierre Juillet  [ fr ] , which had first been called by Pompidou. Hospitalised in Hôpital Cochin after a car crash, he declared that "as always about the drooping of France, the pro-foreign party acts with its peaceable and reassuring voice". He appointed Yvan Blot , an intellectual who would later join

680-450: A new French State during World War II and that the Republic had been re-established when the war was over. It was not for France, therefore, to apologise for the roundup of Jews for deportation that happened while the Republic had not existed and was carried out by a state, Vichy France , which it did not recognise. President François Mitterrand had reiterated this position: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France

748-470: A rapprochement with NATO by joining the Military Committee and attempting to negotiate a return to the integrated military command , which failed after the French demand for parity with the United States went unmet. The possibility of a further attempt foundered after Chirac was forced into cohabitation with a Socialist-led cabinet between 1997 and 2002, then poor Franco-American relations after

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816-513: Is not a real economist. However, Kozul-Wright states in his book The Resistible Rise of Market Fundamentalism that the "ineluctability of market forces" neoliberals and conservative politicians tend to stress and their confidence on a chosen policy rest on a "mixture of implicit and hidden assumptions , myths about the history of their own countries' economic development, and special interests camouflaged in their rhetoric of general good". The sociologists Fred L. Block and Margaret Somers use

884-615: Is responsible," he said in September 1994. Chirac was the first president of France to take responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the Vichy regime. In a speech made on 16 July 1995 at the site of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup , where 13,000 Jews had been held for deportation to concentration camps in July 1942, Chirac said, "France, on that day, committed the irreparable". Those responsible for

952-449: Is under the control of Parliament and under the significant influence of the prime minister. Short of dissolving parliament and calling for new elections, the president was left with little power to influence public policy regarding crime, the economy, and public services. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticise Jospin's government. His position was weakened by scandals about the financing of RPR by Paris municipality . In 2001,

1020-483: The 1981 election , thus splitting the centre-right vote. He was eliminated in the first round with 18% of the vote. He reluctantly supported Giscard in the second round. He refused to give instructions to the RPR voters but said that he supported the incumbent president "in a private capacity", which was interpreted as almost de facto support of the Socialist Party 's (PS) candidate, François Mitterrand , who

1088-478: The Court of Auditors . In April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the personal staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou . This appointment launched Chirac's political career. Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé , and referred to him as "my bulldozer" for his skill at getting things done. The nickname Le Bulldozer caught on in French political circles, where it also referred to his abrasive manner. As late as

1156-523: The National Front , as director of his campaigns for the 1979 European election . After the poor results of the election, Chirac broke with Garaud and Juillet. Vexed Marie-France Garaud stated: "We thought Chirac was made of the same marble of which statues are carved in, we perceive he's of the same faience bidets are made of." His rivalry with Giscard d'Estaing intensified. Chirac made his first run for president against Giscard d'Estaing in

1224-503: The Washington consensus , the neo-liberal doctrines, or market fundamentalism, based on an incorrect understanding of economic theory and (what I viewed) as an inadequate interpretation of the historical data". The theories that I (and others) helped develop explained why unfettered markets often not only do not lead to social justice, but do not even produce efficient outcomes. Interestingly, there has been no intellectual challenge to

1292-446: The next legislative election . For the first time, his leadership over the RPR was challenged. Charles Pasqua and Philippe Séguin criticised his abandonment of Gaullist doctrines. On the right, a new generation of politicians, the "renovation men", accused Chirac and Giscard of being responsible for the electoral defeats. In 1992, convinced a candidate could not become president whilst advocating anti-European policies, he called for

1360-458: The "Giscardian" and "non-Giscardian" factions of the parliamentary majority. At the age of 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the jeunes loups ('young wolves') of French politics, but he was faced with the hostility of the "Barons of Gaullism" who considered him a traitor for his role during the previous presidential campaign. In December 1974, he took the lead of the Union of Democrats for

1428-472: The 1988 presidential election , Chirac maintained this reputation. At Pompidou's suggestion, Chirac ran as a Gaullist for a seat in the National Assembly in 1967. He was elected deputy for his home Corrèze département , a stronghold of the left. This surprising victory in the context of a Gaullist ebb permitted him to enter the government as Minister of Social Affairs . Although Chirac

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1496-552: The Belle Epoque. In 2016, for his work on Berlioz, he was presented with the medal of The Berlioz Society, London. Peter Bloom Smith College faculty biography and list of publications: http://www.smith.edu/music/faculty_bloom.php Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac ( UK : / ˈ ʃ ɪər æ k / , US : / ʒ ɑː k ʃ ɪəˈr ɑː k / ; French: [ʒak ʁəne ʃiʁak] ; 29 November 1932 – 26 September 2019)

1564-815: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Elected as President of the Republic, he refused to discuss the existence of French military bases in Africa, despite requests by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . The French Army thus remained in Côte d'Ivoire as well as in Omar Bongo 's Gabon. Prior to 1995, the French government had maintained that the French Republic had been dismantled when Philippe Pétain instituted

1632-542: The French Navy with no aircraft carrier until 2001, when Charles de Gaulle was commissioned. He also reduced expenditure on nuclear weapons and the French nuclear arsenal was reduced to include 350 warheads, compared to the Russian nuclear arsenal of 16,000 warheads. He also published a plan to reduce the number of fighters the French military had by 30. After François Mitterrand left office in 1995, Chirac began

1700-575: The French UN veto threat over Iraq in 2003 made transatlantic negotiations impossible. On 25 July 2000, as Chirac and the first lady were returning from the G7 Summit in Okinawa, Japan, they were placed in a dangerous situation by Air France Flight 4590 after they landed at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. The first couple were in an Air France Boeing 747 taxiing toward the terminal when

1768-559: The Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, Paris, in 2019. Bloom organized international conferences on Berlioz and his era in 1982 and 2000 (at Smith College). From 1997 to 2003 he was a member of the Paris-based Comité international Hector Berlioz that sponsored five international conferences to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the composer's birth and among other things attempted to have Berlioz's remains transferred from

1836-729: The Montmartre Cemetery in Paris to the Panthéon, which honors "les grands hommes" of the French Nation. Then-President of France Jacques Chirac , after initially agreeing to the transfer, changed his mind. In March 2012, Bloom was an adviser to "Debussy's Paris: Art, Music, & Sounds of the City," an aural and visual art exhibit at the Smith College Museum of Art on composer Claude Debussy and Paris during

1904-599: The RPR/UDF right-wing coalition won a slight majority in the National Assembly in the 1986 election , Mitterrand (PS) appointed Chirac prime minister (though many in Mitterrand's inner circle lobbied him to choose Jacques Chaban-Delmas instead). This unprecedented power-sharing arrangement, known as cohabitation , gave Chirac the lead in domestic affairs. However, it is generally conceded that Mitterrand used

1972-472: The Republic (UDR) against the will of its more senior personalities. As prime minister, Chirac quickly set about persuading the Gaullists that, despite the social reforms proposed by President Giscard, the basic tenets of Gaullism, such as national and European independence, would be retained. Chirac was advised by Pierre Juillet and Marie-France Garaud , two former advisers of Pompidou. These two organised

2040-762: The Republic , Chirac's party, on 12 October 2000, declaring to the magazine Le Figaro on 18 November 2000: "Jacques Chirac is not my friend anymore". After the publication of the Jean-Claude Méry by Le Monde on 22 September 2000, in which Jean-Claude Méry, in charge of the RPR's financing, directly accused Chirac of organising the network, and of having been physically present on 5 October 1986, when Méry gave in cash 5 million Francs , which came from companies who had benefited from state deals, to Michel Roussin , personal secretary ( directeur de cabinet ) of Chirac, Chirac refused to attend court in response to his summons by judge Eric Halphen , and

2108-536: The United States, Chirac worked at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri . Chirac trained as a reserve military officer in armoured cavalry at Saumur . He then volunteered to fight in the Algerian War , using personal connections to be sent despite the reservations of his superiors. His superiors did not want to make him an officer because they suspected he had communist leanings. In 1965, he became an auditor in

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2176-568: The areas granted to the President of the Republic, or "reserved domains" of the Presidency, Defence and Foreign Affairs, to belittle his prime minister. Chirac's cabinet sold many public companies , renewing the liberalisation initiated under Laurent Fabius 's Socialist government of 1984–1986, and abolished the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), a symbolic tax on those with high value assets introduced by Mitterrand's government. Elsewhere,

2244-412: The belief that the best interests in a given society are achieved by allowing its participants to pursue their own financial self-interest with no restraint or regulatory oversight. Critics claim that in modern society with worldwide conglomerates, or even merely large companies, the individual has no protection against fraud nor harm caused by products that maximize income by imposing externalities on

2312-464: The campaign against Chaban-Delmas in 1974. They advocated a clash with Giscard d'Estaing because they thought his policy bewildered the conservative electorate. Citing Giscard's unwillingness to give him authority, Chirac resigned as prime minister in 1976. He proceeded to build up his political base among France's several conservative parties, with a goal of reconstituting the Gaullist UDR into

2380-483: The decision to "promulgate without applying" the First Employment Contract (CPE) after large student demonstrations against it). One of his first acts concerning foreign policy was to call back Jacques Foccart (1913–1997), who had been de Gaulle's and his successors' leading counsellor for African matters, called by journalist Stephen Smith the "father of all "networks" on the continent, at

2448-484: The disapproval of the "Pompidolians". Chirac and others published the call of the 43 in favour of Giscard d'Estaing, the leader of the non-Gaullist part of the parliamentary majority. Giscard d'Estaing was elected as Pompidou's successor after France's most competitive election campaign in years. In return, the new president chose Chirac to lead the cabinet. When Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became president, he nominated Chirac as prime minister on 27 May 1974, to reconcile

2516-613: The economic policy of the Socialist government, he gradually aligned himself with prevailing economically liberal opinion, even though it did not correspond with Gaullist doctrine. While the far-right National Front grew, taking advantage of the proportional representation electoral system which had been introduced for the 1986 legislative elections , he signed an electoral pact with the Giscardian (and more or less Christian Democratic) party Union for French Democracy (UDF). When

2584-592: The first round (20.8 per cent), and then defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the second round (52.6 per cent). Chirac was elected on a platform of tax cuts and job programmes, but his policies did little to ease the labour strikes during his first months in office. On the domestic front, neo-liberal economic austerity measures introduced by Chirac and his conservative prime minister Alain Juppé , including budgetary cutbacks, proved highly unpopular. At about

2652-531: The highest echelons of the French justice system declared that he could not be inculpated while in office. During his two terms, he increased the Elysee Palace's total budget by 105 per cent (to €90 million, whereas 20 years before it was the equivalent of €43.7 million). He doubled the number of presidential cars – to 61 cars and seven scooters in the Palace's garage. He hired 145 extra employees –

2720-479: The interior . In 1981 and 1988 , he unsuccessfully ran for president as the standard-bearer for the conservative Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls , strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatisation . After pursuing these policies in his second term as prime minister, Chirac changed his views. He argued for different economic policies and

2788-533: The jet had to stop and wait for Flight 4590 to take off. The departing plane, an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde , ran over a strip of metal on takeoff puncturing its left fuel tank and sliced electrical wires near the left landing gear. The sequence of events ignited a large fire and caused the Concorde to veer left on its takeoff roll. As it reached takeoff speed and lifted off the ground, it came within 30 feet of hitting Chirac's 747. The photograph of Flight 4590 ablaze,

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2856-543: The label "because the term conveys the quasi-religious certainty expressed by contemporary advocates of market self-regulation". Joseph Stiglitz used the term in his autobiographical essay in acceptance of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences to criticize some International Monetary Fund policies, arguing: "More broadly, the IMF was advocating a set of policies which is generally referred to alternatively as

2924-441: The last president to be re-elected until 2022 . In 2011, the Paris court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence . Jacques René Chirac was born on 29 November 1932 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris . He was the son of Abel François Marie Chirac (1898–1968), a successful executive for an aircraft company, and Marie-Louise Valette (1902–1973),

2992-603: The left, represented by Bertrand Delanoë (PS), won a majority on the city council of the capital. Jean Tiberi , Chirac's successor at the Paris city hall, was forced to resign after having been put under investigations in June 1999 on charges of trafic d'influences in the HLMs of Paris affairs (related to the illegal financing of the RPR). Tiberi was finally expelled from the Rally for

3060-570: The ministry of economy and finance. After some months in the ministry for Relations with Parliament, Chirac's first high-level post came in 1972 when he became Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under Pompidou, who had been elected president in 1969, after de Gaulle retired. Chirac quickly earned a reputation as a champion of French farmers' interests, and first attracted international attention when he assailed U.S., West German , and European Commission agricultural policies which conflicted with French interests. On 27 February 1974, after

3128-479: The only picture taken of the Concorde on fire, was taken by passenger Toshihiko Sato on Chirac's jetliner. Ultraliberal Market fundamentalism , also known as free-market fundamentalism , is a term applied to a strong belief in the ability of unregulated laissez-faire or free-market capitalist policies to solve most economic and social problems. It is often used as pejorative by critics of said beliefs. Palagummi Sainath believes Jeremy Seabrook ,

3196-417: The plan for university reform (plan Devaquet ) caused a crisis in 1986 when a student called Malik Oussekine was killed by the police, leading to massive demonstrations and the proposal's withdrawal. It has been said during other student crises that this event strongly affected Jacques Chirac, who was afterwards careful about possible police violence during such demonstrations (e.g., maybe explaining part of

3264-492: The presidency against Chirac in 1995. However, benefiting from positive polls, Balladur decided to be a presidential candidate, with the support of a majority of right-wing politicians. Balladur broke from Chirac along with a number of friends and allies, including Charles Pasqua, Nicolas Sarkozy , etc., who supported his candidacy. A small group of fidels would remain with Chirac, including Alain Juppé and Jean-Louis Debré . When Nicolas Sarkozy became president in 2007, Juppé

3332-424: The refutation of Adam Smith 's invisible hand : individuals and firms, in the pursuit of their self-interest, are not necessarily, or in general, led as if by an invisible hand, to economic efficiency. Critics of laissez-faire policies have used the term to denote what they perceive as a misguided belief or deliberate deception that capitalist free markets provide the greatest possible equity and prosperity, or

3400-471: The relationship between the two men became tense, with Giscard, even though he had been in the same government coalition as Chirac, criticising Chirac's actions openly. After the May 1981 presidential election, the right also lost the subsequent legislative election that year. However, as Giscard had been knocked out, Chirac appeared as the principal leader of the right-wing opposition. Due to his attacks against

3468-688: The resignation of Raymond Marcellin , Chirac was appointed Minister of the Interior . On 21 March 1974, he cancelled the SAFARI project due to privacy concerns after its existence was revealed by Le Monde . From March 1974, he was entrusted by President Pompidou with preparations for the presidential election then scheduled for 1976. These elections were moved forward because of Pompidou's sudden death on 2 April 1974. Chirac vainly attempted to rally Gaullists behind Prime Minister Pierre Messmer . Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced his candidacy in spite of

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3536-581: The resumption of nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia in 1995, a few months before signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty . Reacting to criticism, Chirac said, "You only have to look back at 1935...There were people then who were against France arming itself, and look what happened." On 1 February 1996, Chirac announced that France had ended "once and for all" its nuclear testing and intended to accede to

3604-539: The roundup were "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under the authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis. ... the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State". In 1997, Chirac dissolved parliament for early legislative elections in a gamble designed to bolster support for his conservative economic program. But instead, it created an uproar, and his power

3672-616: The same time, it became apparent that Juppé and others had obtained preferential conditions for public housing, as well as other perks. At the year's end Chirac faced major workers' strikes which turned, in November–December 1995, into a general strike , one of the largest since May 1968. The demonstrations were largely pitted against Juppé's plan for pension reform, and ultimately led to his dismissal. Shortly after taking office, Chirac – undaunted by international protests by environmental groups – insisted upon

3740-731: The time [in 1986] aged 72." Foccart, who had also co-founded the Gaullist SAC militia (dissolved by Mitterrand in 1982 after the Auriol massacre ) along with Charles Pasqua , and who was a key component of the Françafrique system, was again called to the Elysée Palace when Chirac won the 1995 presidential election. Furthermore, confronted by anti-colonialist movements in New Caledonia , Prime Minister Chirac ordered

3808-493: The total number of the people he employed simultaneously was 963. As the Supreme Commander of the French armed forces, he reduced the military budget, as did his predecessor. At the end of his first term it accounted for three per cent of GDP. In 1997 the aircraft carrier Clemenceau was decommissioned after 37 years of service, with her sister ship Foch decommissioned in 2000 after 37 years of service, leaving

3876-416: The view that any interference with the market process decreases social well-being. Users of the term include adherents of interventionist , mixed economy and protectionist positions as well as billionaires such as George Soros ; economists such as Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman ; and Cornell University historian Edward E. Baptist . Soros suggests that market fundamentalism includes

3944-399: Was a "kind of luxury". Nevertheless, the right won the 1993 legislative election . Chirac announced that he did not want to come back as prime minister as his previous term had ended with his unsuccessful run for the presidency against Mitterrand who was still president at this point. Chirac instead suggested the appointment of Edouard Balladur , who had promised that he would not run for

4012-458: Was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. After attending the École nationale d'administration , Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant , entering politics shortly thereafter. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including minister of agriculture and minister of

4080-497: Was conceived as an electoral machine against President Giscard d'Estaing. Paradoxically, Chirac benefited from Giscard's decision to create the office of mayor in Paris, which had been in abeyance since the 1871 Commune , because the leaders of the Third Republic (1871–1940) feared that having municipal control of the capital would give the mayor too much power. In 1977, Chirac stood as a candidate against Michel d'Ornano ,

4148-615: Was educated in Paris at the Cours Hattemer , a private school. He then attended the Lycée Carnot and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand . After his baccalauréat , behind his father's back he went off to serve for three months as a sailor on a coal-transport. Chirac played rugby union for Brive 's youth team, and also played at university level. He played no. 8 and second row . At age 18, his ambition

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4216-498: Was elected by a broad majority. Giscard has always blamed Chirac for his defeat. He was told by Mitterrand, before his death, that the latter had dined with Chirac before the election. Chirac told the Socialist candidate that he wanted to "get rid of Giscard". In his memoirs, Giscard wrote that between the two rounds, he phoned the RPR headquarters. He passed himself off, as a right-wing voter, by changing his voice. The RPR employee advised him "certainly do not vote Giscard!" After 1981,

4284-560: Was elected president in 1995 , with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, beating Socialist Lionel Jospin , after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" ( fracture sociale ). Chirac's economic policies, based on dirigisme , allowing for state-directed investment, stood in opposition to the laissez-faire policies of the United Kingdom under the ministries of Margaret Thatcher and John Major , which Chirac described as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism ". Chirac

4352-461: Was known for his stand against the American-led invasion of Iraq , his recognition of the collaborationist French government 's role in deporting Jews , and his reduction of the presidential term from seven years to five through a referendum in 2000 . At the 2002 presidential election , he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen , and was

4420-498: Was one of the few chiraquiens to serve in François Fillon's government. During the 1995 presidential campaign , Chirac criticised the "sole thought" ( pensée unique ) of neoliberalism represented by his challenger on the right and promised to reduce the "social fracture", placing himself more to the centre and thus forcing Balladur to radicalise himself. Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in

4488-508: Was to become a ship's captain. At age 16, Chirac wanted to learn Sanskrit and found a White Russian Sanskrit teacher in Paris who ended up teaching him Russian; by age 17 Chirac was almost fluent in Russian. Inspired by Charles de Gaulle , Chirac started to pursue a civil service career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party , sold copies of L'Humanité , and took part in meetings of

4556-479: Was weakened by the subsequent backlash. The Socialist Party (PS), joined by other parties on the left , soundly defeated Chirac's conservative allies, forcing Chirac into a new period of cohabitation with Jospin as prime minister (1997–2002), which lasted five years. Cohabitation significantly weakened the power of Chirac's presidency. The French president, by a constitutional convention , only controls foreign and military policy— and even then, allocation of funding

4624-521: Was well-situated in de Gaulle's entourage, being related by marriage to the general's sole companion at the time of the Appeal of 18 June 1940, he was more of a "Pompidolian" than a "Gaullist". When student and worker unrest rocked France in May 1968 , Chirac played a central role in negotiating a truce. Then, as state secretary of economy (1968–1971), he worked closely with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , who headed

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