The Fifth Republic at Twenty

Edited by William G. Andrews & Stanley Hoffmann

Subjects: French Studies
Paperback : 9780791458587, 518 pages, June 1980
Hardcover : 9780873954136, 518 pages, June 1980

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Table of contents

Preface

Key to Abbreviations

1. Introduction: The Impact of France on the Fifth Republic
William G. Andrews

I. Government

2. The Constitution of 1958: Its Raison d'Etre and How It Evolved
Michel Debré

3. The Collective Political Executive under the Gaullists
William G. Andrews

4. Parliament in the Fifth Republic
John R. Frears

5. Administrative Reform and the Problem of Decentralization
Ezra N. Suleiman

II. Politics

6. The RPR: From a Rassemblement to the Gaullist Movement
William R. Schonfeld

7. Gaullism Abandoned or the Cost of Success
Peter Alexis Gourevitch

8. Centrism in the Fifth Republic: An Attitude in Search of an Instrument
William Safran

9. The Effects of Twenty Years of Gaullism on the Parties of the Left
Georges Lavau

10. The French Left in the Fifth Republic
Frank L. Wilson

11. The French Left and the Transformation of French Society: Sisyphus Revisited
Mark Kesselman

III. The Economy

12. The French Economy under the Fifth Republic, 1958–1978
Bela Balassa

13. The Gaullist Model of Economic Modernization
Volkmar Lauber

14. Twenty Years of the Gaullist Economy
Stephen S. Cohen

15. The Interventionist Temptation: Financial Structure and Political Purpose
John Zysman

16. The Corporatist Dynamic of Agricultural Modernization in the Fifth Republic
John T. S. Keeler

17. Lame Ducks and National Champions: Industrial Policy in the Fifth Republic
Suzanne Berger

18. Energy Policies of the Fifth Republic: Autonomy versus Constraint
Robert J. Lieber

IV. Society and Culture

19. Gaullism and Organized Labor: Two Decades of Failure?
George Ross

20. Gaullism and Collective Bargaining: The Effect of the Fifth Republic on French Industrial Relations
Janice McCormick

21. The Fifth Republic and Education: Modernity, Democracy, Culture
Paul Gagnon

22. France's Cultural Anxieties under Gaullism: The Cultural Revolution Revisted
Michel Crozier

V. Foreign and Defense Policies

23. The Fifth Republic in Europe
A. W. De Porte

24. French Disarmament and Arms Control Policy: The Gaullist Heritage in Question
Edward A. Kolodziej

25. Consensus, Confusion, and Confrontation in France: The Left in Search of a Defense Policy
Michael M. Harrison

26. Conclusion: The Impact of the Fifth Republic on France
Stanley Hoffmann

Appendix: Dialogue: Michel Debré with Conference Participants

Contributors

Index

Description

The first twenty years of the Fifth Republic encompass four presidential elections, alternating political control of the National Assembly, and years of rapid economic growth and contraction. Thus a variety of events now allow an evaluation of the efficacy of the Fifth Republic. The chapters of this book examine: the governmental framework and various political groups that have vied for control of it; industrial development and modernization; education and culture; and foreign policy. Containing both favorable and critical assessments, the book provides a comprehensive balance sheet on the Fifth Republic and the influence of Charles de Gaulle. Its 25 essays were written by such well-known scholars as Crozier, Gagnon, Gourévitch, Ross, Suleiman, and others, as well as some of the younger generation of French specialists, with concluding synthesis by Stanley Hoffmann.

The book features an essay of historical importance on the Constitution of the Fifth Republic by the Constitution's own "father," the former Prime Minister of France, Michel Debré.

Looking into the areas of government, politics, economy, society, culture, and foreign policy, this volume gives the reader an understanding of the considerable impact of Charles de Gaulle's administration on contemporary France.

William G. Andrews is Professor of Political Science at the State University College of New York at Brockport. He is the author of French Politics and Algeria and other books on comparative politics. Stanley Hoffmann, Professor of Government at Harvard University, also directs Harvard's Center for European Studies. He is coauthor of In Search of France, author of Decline or Renewal? France Since the 1930s, and other books on international politics.