The Fifth French Republic (European History in Perspective)

275 Pages·2005·0.82 MB·English

by  Nicholas Atkin

The Fifth French
Republic
Nicholas Atkin
The Fifth French Republic
European History in Perspective
General Editor: Jeremy Black
Benjamin Arnold Medieval Germany
Ronald Asch The Thirty Years’ War
Nigel Aston The French Revolution, 1789–1804
Nicholas Atkin The Fifth French Republic
Christopher Bartlett Peace, War and the European Powers, 1814–1914
Robert Bireley The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450–1700
Donna Bohanan Crown and Nobility in Early Modern France
Arden Bucholz Moltke and the German Wars, 1864–1871
Patricia Clavin The Great Depression, 1929–1939
Paula Sutter Fichtner The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848
Mark Galeotti Gorbachev and his Revolution
David Gates Warfare in the Nineteenth Century
Alexander Grab Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe
Martin P. Johnson The Dreyfus Affair
Paul Douglas Lockhart Sweden in the Seventeenth Century
Graeme Murdock Beyond Calvin
Peter Musgrave The Early Modern European Economy
J. L. Price The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century
A. W. Purdue The Second World War
Christopher Read The Making and Breaking of the Soviet System
Francisco J. Romero-Salvado Twentieth-Century Spain
Matthew S. Seligmann and Roderick R. McLean
Germany from Reich to Republic, 1871–1918
Brendan Simms The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 1779–1850
David Sturdy Louis XIV
David J. Sturdy Richelieu and Mazarin
Hunt Tooley The Western Front
Peter Waldron The End of Imperial Russia, 1855–1917
Peter G. Wallace The Long European Reformation
James D. White Lenin
Patrick Williams Philip II
Peter H. Wilson From Reich to Revolution
European History in Perspective
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The Fifth French
Republic
NICHOLAS ATKIN
© Nicholas Atkin 2005
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To Claire
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: La Coagulation: The Fourth
Republic, 1946–58
The Workings of the Fourth Republic 10
The Republic Overseas 20
De Gaulle 30
The Investiture 34
Conclusion: La Mal Aimée 36
Chapter 2: La Crise: The Founding of the Fifth
Republic, 1958–62
Constitution-Making 38
Algeria 42
The Après-Guerre: De Gaulle on the Attack 55
Conclusion: The Gaullian Achievement 58
Chapter 3: La Consolidation: De Gaulle’s Republic,
1963–67
The Politics of Gaullism: A Republican Monarchy? 60
Towards a Two-Party System 66
The Trente Glorieuses: Winners and Losers 71
vii
viii CONTENTS
The Politics of Grandeur 85
Conclusion: Worrying Portents 92
Chapter 4: Le Contestation: 1968
The Student Protest 96
The Social Crisis 104
The Political Response 106
1968: A Balance Sheet 111
Conclusion: Durability 115
Chapter 5: La Confiance: Pompidou to Giscard,
1969–1981
Pompidou: Legitimation and Disintegration 117
Giscard d’Estaing: From Liberalism to
Monarchism, 1974–1981 123
The Recovery of the Left 135
Conclusion: Towards Victory 140
Chapter 6: Le Caméléon: The Mitterrand
Presidencies, 1981–1995
The First Septennat 143
The Second Septennat 153
France Confronts its Past 156
Race and the Far Right 163
France and Europe 172
Conclusion: The Mitterrand Legacy 179
Chapter 7: Le Chagrin: The Chirac Presidencies,
1995–2002
Chirac elected 182
Chirac’s Presidency: From Juppé to Jospin 185
Chirac’s Salvation: The 2002 Elections 192
The Fifth: Past, Present and Future 195
Notes 200
Bibliography 224
Index 240
Acknowledgements
My thanks go first to Jeremy Black who invited me to contribute to this
series. The initial idea was to write on the later years of the Third
Republic, and I am grateful to Pamela Pilbeam who suggested that there
was a greater need for a study on the Fifth Republic. As in the past, her
advice and backing have been greatly welcomed. At Palgrave Macmillan,
Terka Acton and Sonya Barker have been both supportive and patient.
Patience was also displayed by Andy Knapp who read through an early
manuscript which still makes me blush with embarrassment. He cor-
rected several silly mistakes, made many suggestions for further reading
and forced me to reconsider a number of my arguments. I am also
indebted to all those who have written on the Fifth Republic. To have
acknowledged their full contribution would have turned the text into a
briar of footnotes. Thanks also go to my students on whom I have tried
out several of my ideas. I have particularly benefited from the sugges-
tions of Richard Carswell who regularly sent me reviews of books which
otherwise would have passed me by. Any mistakes, shortcomings and
peculiarities of judgement are my own contribution. As always, the great-
est debt is to my wife, Claire, and children, Charlotte and Benjamin.
Nicholas Atkin
Windsor
ix