Democracy Is Functioning Normally, Yet the Country Is Paralyzed: Thoughts on France's Political Turmoil

Recently, while watching news about France’s fiscal crisis and demonstrations, a question occurred to me.

France is an advanced economy and a democracy. It has elections. It has a parliament. It has capable civil servants and politicians.

Why, then, can it not solve the country’s problems?

When I looked into it, I found the cause in an unexpected place.

Democracy is not broken. Nothing can be decided precisely because democracy is functioning normally.

Everyone Is Right, and Nothing Gets Decided

The political forces supporting President Macron do not hold a majority in the National Assembly.

The government wants to reduce the fiscal deficit. The opposition, however, rejects tax increases and cuts to social security.

Ordinary people are struggling with the cost of living, so naturally they do not want their burden to increase either.

Seen from each party’s position, their arguments are understandable.

The government wants to restore the public finances. The opposition wants to protect its supporters’ livelihoods. The public wants to preserve its current standard of living.

But there is no way to satisfy all three groups at once.

Someone has to compromise. Yet compromise costs support.

So no one gives way.

And nothing gets decided.

The result of everyone faithfully performing their own role is that the country as a whole becomes incapable of doing anything.

It is quite an impressive system.

Dictatorships Are Not the Only Countries Where Politics Fails

When we think of political dysfunction, we tend to imagine a country where a dictator runs out of control or corruption is rampant.

France’s problem, however, is more troublesome.

Elections take place. People are free to express opposing views. Parliament can hold the government to account.

The institutions of democracy themselves are present.

Even so, the fiscal deficit does not shrink, problems with public services remain unresolved, and public dissatisfaction continues to grow.

It is not that politicians are doing nothing. On the contrary, they engage desperately in political activity every day.

The problem is that much of this activity is devoted to blocking the other side’s proposals.

In corporate terms, it is like a company where the CEO, executives, and department heads hold meetings every day but can agree on neither a budget nor a business plan.

And every one of them believes that they alone are protecting the company.

It is difficult to imagine such a company winning against its competitors.

Meanwhile, Japan Remains Under LDP Government

When we turn to Japan, the political situation is quite different.

The Liberal Democratic Party remains in government, and the prime minister’s approval rating is also high.

Criticism of politicians never ends, and problems abound, including rising prices, a declining and aging population, and enormous government debt.

Even so, the system in which the government makes policy decisions and keeps the administration moving remains intact.

This contrasts with France, where conflict over the budget threatens the survival of the government itself.

In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party’s long hold on power has itself been criticized for many years.

But watching the turmoil in France makes me feel that there is also value in one party remaining in government and allowing politics to continue functioning.

That is separate from whether its policies are good or bad.

A government that makes the wrong decisions and a government that cannot make any decisions are both problematic. But the latter cannot even decide how to correct the problem.

A Country Does Not Need Villains to Decline

The most frightening thing is that explaining France’s turmoil does not require introducing any particular villain.

The government is trying to protect the public finances. The opposition is trying to protect its supporters. The public is trying to protect its way of life.

Everyone is acting rationally from their own perspective.

Yet the country’s problems remain unsolved as a whole.

This is not merely a matter of individual politicians’ abilities. It is a problem with the system itself.

Democracy is a system for reflecting a wide range of opinions in politics. But reflecting opinions and bringing them together to make a decision are not the same thing.

If the former works while the latter stops, politics becomes one enormous complaints desk.

The public’s voices are heard. Parliament debates them. Television reports on them.

But nothing is solved.

France’s political turmoil makes the irony of democracy easy to see.

Politicians work every day. Parliament is active. Citizens are protesting in the streets.

Everyone is working desperately, yet the one thing that does not move is the country itself.

Apparently, democracy also offers the option of everyone participating in doing nothing.