This chapter proposes to distinguish between the concepts of tripartition and tripolarization, by associating them with different arenas: the electoral arena for the former, the parliamentary arena for the latter. On this basis, he shows that both concepts are relevant for describing French political life after the 2022 elections: there is tripartition in the electoral arena and tripolarization in the parliamentary arena, a configuration unprecedented in the Fifth Republic. These results enable us to better characterize the new electoral order that crystallized after the 2019 European elections (Gougou, 2022): tripartition and tripolarization could be its distinguishing features.

The electoral collapse of once-dominant parties, declining membership, erosion of public confidence in political parties, but also the emergence of new parties and new issues, renewed modes of organization... Political parties are in a state of flux, and so is the field in which they are studied. This treatise takes note of these changes and presents a synthesis, as complete and recent as possible, of the works that help us to understand them. It has been designed around the application of two major principles: theoretical and methodological pluralism and the comparative dimension. In order to grasp all facets of the partisan object, it is organized into four main parts. The first deals with the birth and historical transformation of political parties. The second looks at the institutional, media and financial environments in which they operate. The third looks at the main partisan activities. Based on the contributions of some thirty experts, this book is aimed at a French-speaking public interested in politics, whether at university (students, teachers), in the workplace (journalists, actors in the associative or political world) or, more generally, at all citizens wishing to learn more about organizations that remain essential in representative democracies.