Drawing on centuries of data, Julia Cagé and Thomas Piketty place today’s French politics in historical context. France is divided among bourgeois and distinct urban and rural working-class blocs—historically, an unstable structure. The authors show how inequality breeds tripartite competition and a...

Drawing on centuries of data, Julia Cagé and Thomas Piketty place today’s French politics in historical context. France is divided among bourgeois and distinct urban and rural working-class blocs—historically, an unstable structure. The authors show how inequality breeds tripartite competition and argue for the greater potential of two-way rivalry.