France’s Yellow Vests Are Rebels Without a Cause

PARIS—A crisis of representative democracy is unfolding in France.

For months now, President Emmanuel Macron has been crisscrossing the country for a grand débat, a series of town meetings he called in January to address the discontent embodied by the “yellow vest” movement. These demonstrations began as a protest of a fuel-tax hike and have now evolved into a wave of economic anxiety and anti-establishment sentiment—with bursts of violence, such as the torching of banks and businesses in Paris this past weekend. The latest incidents, part of “Act 18” of the movement’s weekly Saturday protests, were planned to mark the end of the grand débat.

The French president has been trying to claw back the support of local officials and citizens who felt ignored by a leader they saw as arrogant