What is the Fifth Republic?

The Roman numeral often comes as a surprise: why a fifth Republic? Because France has changed political system several times since 1789, and each new Constitution opens a new Republic. The 1958 one is the longest-lasting after the Third.

1958: a new Constitution

The Fifth Republic was born of the Constitution adopted by referendum on 28 September 1958 and promulgated on 4 October. It followed the Fourth, which had been marked by great governmental instability. The guiding idea was to strengthen the executive against Parliament, so that a government could last and act. That text, revised several times since, still organises public authority today, and it opens with the formula the exam likes to recall: France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic.

A two-headed executive

The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister, chairs the Council of Ministers, promulgates the laws and commands the armed forces. The Government, led by the Prime Minister, determines and conducts the policy of the nation, and remains accountable to the National Assembly, which can bring it down. That division explains a good share of the exam questions: they bear less on individuals than on the question of who does what, and on what distinguishes an appointment from an election.

From seven-year to five-year terms

Two reforms deeply marked the system. In 1962, electing the President by direct universal suffrage gave the office a legitimacy no other national elected figure holds. In 2000, a referendum brought the term down from seven years to five: that is the quinquennat, applied since 2002. Remembering those two dates is enough for the exam; what is expected is to know that the President is elected directly by citizens, for five years, and is not accountable to Parliament.

The four previous Republics

Understanding the numeral means knowing the series. The First Republic was proclaimed in 1792, during the Revolution, and ended with the Empire of Napoleon I. The Second was born of the 1848 revolution: it introduced universal male suffrage and abolished slavery, before giving way to the Second Empire. The Third, born in 1870 after the fall of that Empire, is the longest of them all and saw the law separating church and State in 1905; it ended in 1940. The Fourth, established in 1946, granted women the right to vote as early as 1944 and was marked by strong governmental instability. These markers call for no erudition: four systems, four birth dates.

Worth remembering

• Constitution of 4 October 1958: the birth certificate of the Fifth Republic.
• An executive shared between the President and the Government led by the Prime Minister.
• A President elected by direct universal suffrage since 1962, for five years since 2002.

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