CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Csanyi, Petra |
|---|---|
| Title | Macron's Center: An Analysis of Ideological Alignment and Voter Satisfaction in France |
| Summary | After decades of alternating governance between the mainstream left and right in France, a new centrist force emerged in 2017 led by Emmanuel Macron. This thesis investigates the nature of centrism in the Macron era, asking what the political center truly represents in the French context. While Macron presents himself as transcending the left-right divide, his program and electoral base may not reflect a coherent centrist ideology. To evaluate this claim, the thesis compares post-election satisfaction among voters ideologically aligned with the winning candidate using post-electoral data. The results show that Macron’s centrist voters report slightly lower satisfaction than ideologically aligned voters of Chirac, Sarkozy, or Hollande. However, the contrast is especially stark between Macron in 2022 and Chirac in 2002, both of whom faced far-right challengers in the second round. These findings suggest that Macron’s success rests on strategic positioning and circumstantial factors rather than ideological coherence. The research combines quantitative comparisons with analysis of existing literature and an expert interview to situate Macron’s centrism in French politics. This thesis contributes to existing literature by addressing a gap in the study of voter satisfaction and ideological alignment in the French case and how Macron’s centrist block affects ideological representation in the Fifth Republic. It then concludes that the ideological center under Macron is temporary and less a stable political identity than a byproduct of polarization, personalization, and strategic voting within the Fifth Republic. |
| Supervisor | Bozóki, András |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/csanyi_petra.pdf |
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