THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 3, 2016- Topic 2
French President François
Hollande’s decision to not make a bid for a second term in office is
unsurprising. In the last leg of a term marred by economic uncertainty, high
unemployment rates, workers’ strikes, infighting within the ruling party and
personal scandal, Mr. Hollande’s approval ratings are abysmally low — as low as
4 per cent in some polls. Moreover, several former cabinet colleagues have said
they would run against him in the Socialist Party primaries. It would have been
humiliating for a sitting President to go through the primaries to win party
nomination. Now, with Mr. Hollande deciding to keep out, the Socialists have
the opportunity to put up a united fight under another candidate, most likely
Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in the April presidential elections. Still, the
left is likely to find it difficult to win back popularity in a campaign in
which the agenda is largely being set by the conservatives and the far right.
Mr. Hollande’s administration must share some blame for this. In 2012 he
campaigned as an aggressive socialist, aligning himself with the unions and
promising a left alternative to conservative Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular
regime. But in office, he drifted to economic liberalism, offering tax breaks
to corporations and setting out to overhaul labour laws, which pitted him
against his allies on the left. His policies failed to revive the economy; he
is also seen to have failed on the security front, with massive terrorist
attacks in several French cities over the past year.
Mr. Hollande could neither
retain his support base nor win over the other side of the spectrum, shifting
the political mood in the country to the right. But the question is, who will
cash in on this? Polls suggest Francois Fillon of the Republican Party and
Marine Le Pen of the National Front will emerge the leading candidates out of
the first round of the election, to face each other in the May 7 run-off. Mr.
Fillon is a social conservative with a liberal economic agenda, and wants to
overhaul the public sector, rein in unions and sack civil servants. He has the
backing of a large organisational machinery, whereas Ms. Le Pen is an insurgent
candidate. But so was Donald Trump. Over the past few years, Ms. Le Pen has
transformed the NF from a fringe far-right group to an almost mainstream party
with some grass-roots support. It now controls at least a dozen town halls and
is consolidating support among the white working class, especially in the rust
belt of the north and east. Like Mr. Trump, she presents herself as an
anti-establishment outsider with a protectionist economic agenda. With the left
in disarray and established conservatives divided, Ms. Le Pen’s chances cannot
be ruled out.
Vocabulary
Uncertainty: the state of being uncertain.
Example: Times of uncertainty and danger
Synonyms: unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness, chanciness, precariousness
Aggressive: ready or likely to attack or confront; characterized by or resulting from
aggression.
Example: He's very uncooperative and aggressive
Synonyms: hostile, belligerent, bellicose, antagonistic, truculent, pugnacious
Aligning: place or arrange (things) in a straight line.
Example: Gently brush the surface to align the fibers
Synonyms: put in
order, put in rows/columns, straighten, place, position
Regime: a system or planned way of doing things, especially one imposed from above.
Example: Detention centers with a very tough physical regime
Synonyms: system, arrangement, order, pattern, method, procedure, routine
Pitted: having a hollow or indentation on the surface.
Example: A dusty pitted road
Synonyms: pockmarked, pocked, scarred, marked, blemished; potholed
Retain: continue to have (something); keep possession of.
Example: Built in 1830, the house retains many of its original features
Synonyms: keep, keep
possession of, keep hold of, hold on to, hang on to
Insurgent: a rebel or revolutionary.
Example: An attack by armed insurgents
Synonyms: rebel, revolutionary, revolutionist, mutineer, insurrectionist, agitator
Mainstream: belonging to or characteristic of the mainstream.
Example: Mainstream politics
Synonyms: normal, conventional, ordinary, orthodox, conformist, accepted