  We propose a novel approach to the confinement-deconfinement transition in
Yang-Mills theories in the context of gauge-fixed calculations. The method is
based on a background-field generalisation of the Landau gauge (to which it
reduces at vanishing temperature) with a given, center-symmetric background.
This is to be contrasted with most implementations of background field methods
in gauge theories, where one uses a variable, self-consistent background. Our
proposal is a bona fide gauge fixing that can easily be implemented on the
lattice and in continuum approaches. The resulting gauge-fixed action
explicitly exhibits the center symmetry of the nonzero temperature theory that
controls the confinement-deconfinement transition. We show that, in that gauge,
the electric susceptibility diverges at a second order transition [e.g., in the
SU(2) theory], so that the gluon propagator is a clear probe of the transition.
We implement our proposal in the perturbative Curci-Ferrari model, known for
its successful description of various infrared aspects of Yang-Mills theories,
including the confinement-deconfinement transition. Our one-loop calculation
confirms our general expectation for the susceptibility while providing
transition temperatures in excellent agreement with the SU(2) and SU(3) lattice
values. Finally, the Polyakov loops above the transition show a more moderate
rise, in contrast to previous implementations of the Curci-Ferrari model using
a self-consistent background, and our SU(3) result agrees quite well with
lattice results in the range $[0,2T_c]$.
