Cohabitation: the Parliamentary Aspect of the French Semi–Presidential System

• Authors: Małgorzata Madej

Abstracts

EN

The political system of the French Fifth Republic is referred to as “semi-presidentialism”. This is is to indicate its mixed nature – of a system presidential and parliamentary at a time. The Constitution grants broad prerogatives – and assigns serious tasks to both the head of state – le Président de la République – and the chief of government – le Premier ministre. When the prime minister represented the pro-presidential political camp, the head of state gained very serious influence on governing the state and political strategy (first, when the French political scene was dominated by the right – 1958–1981; then by the left – 1981–1986 and 1988–1993; and finally by the right again 1995–1997 and since 2002). As early as during Charles de Gaulle presidency (1958–1969) the idea called domaine reservée came into existence. According to this political concept, the widely interpreted external policies – including foreign affairs and defence were recognised as presidential prerogatives, regardless the of literal construction of legal provisions. Relations within the executive changed radically with the end of political unity. During the so-called cohabitation French political practices were different and they ultimately led to an amendment of the Constitution.

Keywords

EN

Parliamentary Aspect; French Semi–Presidential System; France

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Polish Political Science Yearbook
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 37
• Pages: 184-207

Dates

published

2008

Contributors

author

Małgorzata Madej

• University of Wrocław, Poland

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/ppsy2008012

Biblioteka Nauki

2027963