Going Partisan Again. The Contested Technocratic Leadership of Emmanuel Macron and the Return of Parliamentary Politics in 2024 French Political Crisis

This paper examines certain aspects of the current French political crisis, drawing on literature on technocratic governments. It aims to understand why partisan resources may be re-legitimised by non-populist parties even in the case of electoral instability. The paper shows the transformations in ministerial recruitment under Macron's presidency. The analysis reveals a paradox: while technocrats or politicians with a technocratic background dominated the first (2017-2020) and second (2020-2024) parts of the mandate, the crisis of 2024 was characterized by a return to party politics. The article explains this feature by three variables. First, opposition political parties decide not to govern in order to avoid bearing the costs associated with exercising power and let the so-called “central bloc” govern. Second, Macron tries to maintain a form of leadership despite the loss of his majority in Parliament and favours an alliance between the centre and the moderate right. Third, individual leaders of the coalition are competing with one another in the perspective of the 2027 election and prefer to enter government, evicting the technocrats in doing so. Thus, electoral instability did not result in a technocratic government but in a partisan minority government, centred on a fragile alliance, lacking unity and at the mercy of opposition parties.