ABSTRACT
Many had forecast and believed that the outcome would be fatal; but our analysis had led us to the conclusion that since 1962 the political fate of gaullism had no longer been bound up with the fate of its founder. Many systematic explanations of the gaullist phenomenon have been offered since 1958, but they must have been either inadequate or repugnant to common sense, for no explanation has provided the opposition with a solid basis on which to build a political strategy. The view, widely held amongst both politicians and vast sectors of public opinion, that the gaullist phenomenon could be reduced to de Gaulle alone, was less widespread amongst the political scientists. The hypothesis that the political behaviour of the citizens has been modified by the economic modernization of their environment can thus be tested. The political and economic elements overlap closely and are both shaped by the slow rhythm of social and cultural evolution.
