French Presidential Election: History, Evolution and Future
France is one of the few European countries to elect the President of the Republic by the people. Compared to the majority parliamentary democracies on the European continent, France has a political system that mixes American-style presidentialism and English-style parliamentarianism. The aim is to understand this originality, to analyze how the presidential election was established in France, what the powers of the presidential institution are and how the election of the President by the people remains the great moment of democracy in France. Of course, we will start from the last presidential election of April 2022, go back to the history of the eleven presidential elections under the Fifth Republic (from General de Gaulle to Emmanuel Macron) and analyze how the presidential election affects French political life and the balance between the various political forces.

To study all this, we will rely on the historical, legal and political approaches of the Fifth Republic established in 1958. We will also use the numerous journalistic and polling analyses carried out during the presidential election campaign of 2022. Finally, through film and documentary, we will try to understand the specificity of the French case compared to other presidential systems (United States, Brazil, Chile, Philippines, Senegal, Tunisia, Ivory Coast...)

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