Voices from France: A Party Organizer's Perspective

Laurent Dubois, who has worked for multiple parties across the spectrum, shares insights:

"French parties are paradoxical entities. Legally, creating one is trivial—harder to start a restaurant than a political party. But building sustainable organization? That's where we fail compared to Northern Europeans. We excel at moments—spectacular campaigns, charismatic breakthroughs, movement eruptions. We're terrible at the boring stuff: maintaining local sections, training cadres, policy development between elections.

The digitalization changed everything and nothing. Yes, En Marche! conquered France with an app. But without local roots, what happens when the leader falters? The Yellow Vests showed you can mobilize without parties, but can you govern? Every generation thinks it's transcending the old left-right divide, creating something new. Then reality hits—you need structures, funding, discipline. The parties that survive aren't necessarily the best ideas but the best organizations."