This book reveals the transformation of political rallies in France from the last years of the Second Empire until the end of the Third Republic. Originally designed by Republicans as a tool of citizenship learning and formation of political opinion through open debate, rallies gradually became a stage dedicated to the show of force, at the initiative of various emerging political formations. This distortion is marked by the turn of the twentieth century, but is observed even more in the rallies held between the two world wars. Faced with this transformation, the government does not hesitate, in the second half of the 1930s, to invalidate the liberal credo that based the right of assembly since the installation of the Republic.

This book, at the crossroads of history and political science, is an important contribution to our understanding of political life of that period. An essential form of collective political participation, the rallies had never been the subject of major research. The author also contributes to the reflection, more relevant than ever, on the status of public debate in representative regimes. Participatory democracy has a history that this book helps to trace.