ABSTRACT
In the Fifth Republic, the Presidency became the focus for political competition. This happened because of de Gaulle's occupation and transformation of the office. In the event, Charles de Gaulle produced a change in the structure of party politics, creating a conservative coalition which backed the President and the President's government. Although 'presidentialism', through the competition for the Elysee, did at first have a simplifying thrust, the process was not without a centripetal impetus, and the 'institutional' factor of the Presidency, it became clear, was not the only force in Fifth Republic France. This simple bi-polarization, which seemed once to be a 'law of Fifth Republic politics, was riot followed through because of the resistance of the party system. In Andre Siegfried's time, these 'tendencies' included the pro- and anti-Revolutionaries as well as anti-clericals and confessional parties; however, in the Fifth Republic, while still evident, these differences are not as salient as they once were.
