ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses in depth the basic weaknesses that have plagued the French party system, including those aspects particularly pronounced during the Fifth Republic. It looks at the changes that have in fact taken place from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. Aside from the French Communist Party, all of the political parties have been characterized by weakness, especially when one considers them in a comparative perspective. The old denigration of divisive parties, practiced by revolutionaries and conservatives alike, remains profoundly anchored in French culture. The attempts to reconstruct the party system in the Fifth Republic were in large measure focused on the desirability of giving the president a stable parliamentary majority. Up to 1979, the French electoral system, mirroring the British system, was completely "pure": from top to bottom a two-round system of majority voting applied. The destabilization of the political parties over the last decade has also resulted from ideological factors.
