From Yellow Vests street protest to city council: when social movements run for office

Abstract

How the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) faced the electoral dilemma? Despite their rejection of political institutions, the French municipal elections of 2020 led some of the participants to embrace conventional politics. Under which circumstances can a social movement lead to political participation and eventually obtain electoral success? Relying on quantitative and qualitative data, this article provides an explanation of the electoral participation of social movement activists and the different outcomes of local elections in Bordeaux, one of the major sites of Yellow Vests' mobilization in 2018-2019. The article contends that far from allowing marginalized groups to enter the political arena, these elections seem to confirm the "iron law of oligarchy". Two lists of candidates both claiming to be part of the Yellow Vests movement competed with each other. While "Démocratie Bordelaise (Bordeaux Democracy)" rejected partisan support failed to stand, "Bordeaux en Luttes (Bordeaux in Struggle") could rely on organizational support and was able to maintain itself and achieved unexpected electoral success with three local councilors.

Prefigurative leadership: The building of leadership roles in a municipal campaign

“…The setting of the list occurred in a context of proliferation of so-called ‘citizen lists’ actually led by party leaders in the French municipal election of 2020. The list resulted from the junction in January 2020 of a citizen’s collective supported by the radical left-wing parties France insoumise (LFI) and the NPA (Della Sudda and Gaborit, 2022). The assemblies leading to the list gathered party activists, prominent figures of recent social movements and community activists and defined the main campaign themes (housing, transport, and education).…”