Emiliano Grossman - Frances Political Institutions at 50

Fifty years after the creation of the Fifth Republic, French politics is undergoing profound changes. The election of Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a general review of the French political system. Several important constitutional revisions were enacted in July 2008. Debates focussed on issues such as presidentialization, parliamentary scrutiny of the executive, and the creation of a popular initiative to trigger constitutional review of given legislative texts.

These discussions reflect long-standing trends in the Fifth Republic. This volume aims to analyse those trends and outline the major perspectives for future development. In particular it puts the French political system in comparative perspectives and provides in-depth analysis of the evolution of the major political institutions and their relations. This volume argues that substantial reforms have helped to partially reshape French politics. It also shows that the fundamental characteristics of semi-presidential government have stood firm. The question is whether current debates and subsequent reforms are likely to alter the current pattern.

This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Emiliano Grossman and Nicolas Sauger are both Senior Research Fellows at CEVIPOF / Sciences Po and Lecturers at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. Grossman's research concentrates on economic interest groups and political institutions. Sauger has specialised in political parties and electoral systems. Their work is published in journals such as the European Journal of Political Research, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy, West European Politics and the Revue Franaise de Science Politique.

France's Political Institutions at 50

Edited by Emiliano Grossman
and Nicolas Sauger

First published 2010 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

2010 Taylor & Francis

Typeset in Times by Value Chain, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Group, UK

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN10: 0-415-46466-8
ISBN13: 978-0-415-46466-6

West European Politics has established itself as the foremost journal for the comparative analysis of European political institutions, politics and public policy. Its comprehensive scope, which includes the European Union, makes it essential reading for both academics and political practitioners. The books in this series have originated from special issues published by West European Politics.

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ROBERT ELGIE

The concept of semi-presidentialism was first operationalised by Maurice Duverger. There are now 17 countries with semi-presidential constitutions in Europe. Within this set of countries France is usually considered to be the archetypal example of semipresidentialism. This article maps the main institutional and political features of European semi-presidentialism on the basis of Duverger's original three-fold schema. The most striking feature is the diversity of practice within this set of countries. This means that semi-presidentialism should not be operationalised as a discrete explanatory variable. However, there are ways of systematically capturing the variation within semipresidentialism to allow cross-national comparisons. This diversity also means that France should not be considered as the archetypal semi-presidential country. At best, France is an archetypal example of a particular type of semi-presidentialism. Overall, Duverger's main contribution to the study of semi-presidentialism was the original identification of the concept and his implicit insight that there are different types of semi-presidentialism. In the future, the study of semi-presidentialism would benefit from the development of theorydriven comparative work that avoids a reliance on France as the supposed semipresidential archetype.

EMILIANO GROSSMAN

This article examines the evolution of intra-executive relations under the Fifth Republic. In particular, it looks at the presidential decision to change or reshuffle governments. It shows that the president has used the institutional privileges to reshuffle and replace governments very much in his own best interests. Moreover, we try to understand whether the evolution of the party system has affected this practice. The article shows that current tendencies are not strong or unambiguous enough to find strong effects.

SBASTIEN G. LAZARDEUX

This article analyses the evolution of the Assemble Nationale's oversight activities under the Fifth Republic. The chamber increased its oversight capacity during two critical periods: the 1970s and between 1988 and 2002. Moreover, oversight has become more and more a bi-partisan activity. Institutional and party-based hypotheses fail to account for these trends. The institutional hypothesis (which argues that oversight represents the legislators' new role under the Fifth Republic) fails to account for the late and punctuated development of oversight activities. Conversely, the party-based hypothesis fails to explain why the majority would allow the opposition new means to harass the government. The article argues that variations in the cohesiveness of the majority provide a more compelling explanation for this evolution. Intra majority dissensions created the impetus for the expansion of the chamber's oversight power, a power still used in large part by the opposition, but also by dissenting members of the majority.