Sinistrisme

Sinistrisme (sinistʁism) is a neologism invented by political scientist Albert Thibaudet in Les idées politiques de la France (1932) to explain the evolution and recombination of party systems, particularly in France, without substantial changes occurring to party ideology. Thibaudet saw that, over time, issues that previously had not been politicised would emerge, drawing public concern and stimulating a demand for political action. A new political movement would form to champion the new concerns, and this would send repercussions throughout the existing political system. The old party of the left would be split, with some accepting the new issues as legitimate, agreeing to cooperate with the newcomers and adapting their ideology accordingly. Others on the existing left would double down on their existing ideas, refusing change: without having changed their ideas, they would end up pushed de facto one space to the right, and end up as the new centre. Meanwhile, the old party of the centre would be pushed to the centre-right, and so on. As for the very far right, over time the issues of social conservation that motivated them would gradually lose their appeal, and as old issues died off space would be freed up for the old right to become the new far right. France provided the quintessential example. The socially-conservative Liberal Monarchists had been the centre-left of the 1820s, but were pushed to become the new centre by the emergence of socially-conservative Moderate Republicans in the 1830s. These were pushed to the centre by the emergence of the Radicals in the 1870s; these were pushed to the centre by the emergence in the 1900s of the Radical-Socialists, who were pushed towards the centre by the growth of the socialist French Section of the Workers' International in the 1920s, who were in turn pushed towards the centre by the emergence in the 1950s of the French Communist Party.