Originally published in 1950, this book is a narrative and analytical account of the making of the new French Constitution and views that process in its historical setting. Although the book’s central theme is the constitutional problem, it is in a broader sense concerned with the political forces at work in France since liberation. The 2 years of provisional government from August 1944 to December 1946 brought French politics to a new pitch of complexity. Economic stress, international tension, colonial unrest and personal rivalries sharpened the conflicts among the men who made the constitution. All of these elements went into the formation of the Fourth French Republic and are discussed in the book.
Author(s): Gordon Wright
Series: Routledge Revivals
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 308
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Table of Contents
Chapter One: From Mystique to Politique
Chapter Two: The Third Republic: An Obituary
I. Gone But not Forgiven
II. The Republican System and How It Grew
III. The Republic in Peril
IV. The Strange Death of the Republic
Chapter Three: The Republic Underground and Overseas
I. The Vichy Interlude
II. Theorizing in the Maquis
III. The Road Back from Exile
Chapter Four: Experiment in Presidential Government: The De Gaulle Period
I. The First Crossroad
II. Surgery or Rest Cure?
III. Clearing the Vichy Debris
IV. Age of the Monoliths
V. The Constituent Assembly: Corseted or Unconstrained?
VI. Programs in Embryo
VII. Choosing the Architects
Chapter Five: False Start: The First Constituent Assembly
I. The Face of Reborn Democracy
II. End of a Political Honeymoon
Ill. Forty-Two Men and A Constitution
IV. The Socialists’ Choice
V. Dropping the Pilot
VI. The Renovated Rights of Man
VII. 100,000,000 Frenchmen
VIII. Variations on a Theme by Auriol
IX. “Civic Sermonizing”
X. Pierre Cot, Constitutional Obstetrician
XI. Revolution in a Spare Moment
XII. Stillbirth of a Constitution
Chapter Six: Repeat Performance: The Second Constituent Assembly
I. The Will of the People
II. “On Prend Les Mêmes et on Recommence”
III. Voice from the Wilderness
IV. The Labors of Penelope
V. Duet or Trio?
VI. The Woes of “Decadent Tripartism”
VII. St. Charles and The Three-Headed Dragon
Chapter Seven: From the Provisional to the Precarious: Launching the Fourth Republic
I. The End of the Beginning
II. The Spirit and Structure of the Constitution
III. The Machinery in Slow Motion
IV. Scylla, Charybdis, and The Third Force
V. From the Precarious to the Perennial
Appendix
Bibliographical Note
Constitution of the Fourth Republic
Index