The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (99 page)

 
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(1772–1837)
French social theorist who belongs to the traditions of nineteenth-century
utopianism
and
socialism
, and who was a savage critic of bourgeois ‘civilization’ and its values. Fourier's vision of a harmonious future was essentially communitarian, like that of his contemporary Robert
Owen
. He advocated social experiments on the scale of between 1,500 and 1,800 people who would live in a ‘Phalanx’ organized to make labour both productive and attractive to workers (for example, through frequent changes of occupation and routine), and whose basic physical, mental, and even emotional needs would be met through processes of mutual support and democratic self-government. Women would achieve true equality with men, and a sexual revolution would liberate both men and women from the oppressiveness of the traditional family structure. A Fourierist movement enjoyed some success in both France and the United States in the 1830s and 1840s, and even
Marx
and
Engels
, while dismissing Fourier as a utopian (i.e. non-scientific) socialist, expressed admiration for his originality, and made use of many of his ideas, in particular his theory of attractive labour.
KT 

 
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Adopted after the Civil War in 1869, this amendment to the US Constitution was intended to incorporate the ‘privileges and immunities’ enumerated in the Bill of Rights at the level of the states, and compel state authorities to ensure ‘equal protection of the laws’ for all their citizens. Although the purpose of the Amendment was to guarantee newly freed slaves recognition of their citizenship by state governments, it has been used subsequently to justify the modern Supreme Court's ‘ judicial activism’ in a variety of policy areas (most notably in its 1954
Brown
ruling outlawing segregation in state educational facilities). See also
due process
.
SW 

 
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See
international socialism
.

 
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The constitution of the Fourth Republic was approved in 1946, with the National Assembly accorded more power than it could usefully exercise, while the President was assigned a largely ceremonial role which nevertheless allowed him some discretion in the many cabinet crises that followed. The parties were better structured and more clearly differentiated than previously, but two large anti-system forces, Communists and Gaullists, supported by nearly half of the electorate, did nothing to promote consensus or stability. With twenty-five governments in twelve years, effective power shifted by default to the highly effective administration. The Fourth Republic was never popular but managed some notable achievements, namely, the rapid postwar recovery and subsequent ‘economic miracle’, coupled with the introduction of indicative planning, innovations in industrial relations, and the extension of welfare provision. In foreign policy France was integrated into NATO, played a leading role in the creation of the European Community, prepared the way for decolonization in black Africa, and finally (and reluctantly) conceded independence in Indo-China. However, the Algerian problem finally exposed the fragility of the system. With opinion in France moving towards a negotiated settlement, in May 1958, the army in Algeria rebelled—not to overthrow the republic but to keep Algeria French. Without support or real legitimacy the government in Paris prudently resigned, facilitating de Gaulle's investiture, as the last Premier of the Fourth Republic.
IC 

 
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The right to vote. Universal franchise is a twentieth-century phenomenon. In Britain, male franchise was extended in 1832, 1867, and 1884, and became universal in 1918; female franchise was granted in part in 1918 and fully in 1928 ( see also
suffrage
). Earlier, almost no democracy permitted all adult women to vote;
Athenian democracy
disenfranchised women, slaves, and non-natives of Athens.