A History of the Eight French Presidents under the Fifth Republic (1958-2023); a portrait gallery

In 2022, the French re-elected the outgoing President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron) and a new National Assembly. These elections have profoundly redistributed the political cards that have long constituted the political game under the Fifth Republic established in 1958. This course will take the long view of how the idea of an election of the President of the Republic by direct universal suffrage appeared and how it clashed for a long time with a strong parliamentary tradition in Europe, only to impose itself in the early 1960s. But the exercise of presidential authority varies greatly according to the times and personalities. The course will draw on works in political science, law, history and sociology, as well as films and documentaries to contextualize the political figures and events that have marked political life under the Fifth Republic and to show the men and women who have been involved in this process.

● Required text: Pierre Bréchon, Les élections présidentielles françaises, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 2022 ISBN : 978-2-7061-5008-1.