Liberal Democracy (Démocratie Libérale, DL) was a French political party that advocated laissez-faire economics and whose leader was Alain Madelin. A political party is a political organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power within a government. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [oeko], house, and νέμω [nemo], distribute) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources through measurable variables. ... Alain Madelin (born March 26, 1946) is a French politician and a former minister of that country. ...

The party that would eventually become Démocratie Libérale was created in 1966 by finance minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as the National Federation of Republicans and Independents, a conservative, but independent, group which supported President Charles de Gaulle. 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard dEstaing (born February 2, 1926 in Koblenz, Germany) is a French politician who was President of the Republic from 1974 until 1981. ... Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (November 22, 1890 – November 9, 1970), in France commonly referred to as général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ...

After Giscard became president in 1974, the party changed its name to the Republican Party (Parti Républicain), and in 1978 became one of the constituent parts of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), Giscard's new political coalition party. 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Union for French Democracy, also known by its French acronym UDF (Union pour la Démocratie Française), is a French center-right political party. ...

In 1997, Alain Madelin took over leadership of the party, and led it in the direction of neoliberal economics. He changed the name of the party to Démocratie Liberale (Liberal Democracy), and in 1998 broke with the UDF, in part over the question of cooperation with the far-right National Front in local government, which Madelin supported but other groups within the UDF opposed. 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ... Alain Madelin (born March 26, 1946) is a French politician and a former minister of that country. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This article is about the French political party, not the WWII French resistance movement Front National. ...

On September 21, 2002, the DL merged with the Rassemblement pour la République to form the Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle. September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rally for the Republic, also known by its French acronym RPR (Rassemblement pour la République), was a French political party. ... The Union for a Popular Movement, initially named the Union for a Presidential Majority, and in both cases also known by its French acronym UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire and Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle, respectively) is a French right-wing, conservative political party. ...

See also

• Politics of France