ABSTRACT
The five decades of constitutional stability that France has experienced under the Fifth Republic are a record by French standards. Since the 1789 Revolution only the Third Republic (1875-1940) has lasted longer. Yet there have been numerous events that might have brought down the new political regime of 24 October 1958: take-over threats and attempts on the life of its founder, General de Gaulle; the 1962 rebellion of both right-wing and left-wing members of parliament against the presidentialisation of the regime; the student, and social, revolution of 1968; the uncertainties surrounding the left’s accession to power in 1981 and the cohabitation of majority and opposition first in 1986 and 1993 and again in 1997. In short, many people expected the Fifth Republic constitution, like de Gaulle himself, to be no more than ‘a bad moment to live through’ (Paul Reynaud). It seemed to be a short-term solution to a short-term problem – the difficult decolonisation process that the Fourth Republic was unable to address from the beginning to the end of its short life.
