When asked to review an earlier draft of this article, our comments roughly equalled the manuscript text in length, since there seemed to be a remarkable number of misrepresentations of our French work, along with a variety of errors of other kinds. This is a cleaner version of the argument, although at least two key misinterpretations remain. In a sense this is not surprising, since correction at these two points would leave a very unpersuasive article. On the other hand, given that the extensive bodies of evidence within our volume Political Representation in France (henceforth, PRiF) that sharply contradict judgments by Fleury and Lewis-Beck (henceforth, F&L-B) have now been specifically pointed out to them, it is depressing that they continue to keep such evidence from the reader. Indeed, while they are certainly entitled to dispute this counterevidence, it is hard to have an intelligent discussion unless they are willing to reveal why they contest it. We hope that the general reader interested in these issues will at least consult our many relevant discussions in PRiF rather than count on the impressions of our positions left by this article. © 1993, Southern Political Science Association. All rights reserved.
