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‘La Cohabitation’ or ‘La Cohabitension’? The Fifth Republic Enters a New Phase

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Roger Morgan
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Extract

THE EXPERIENCE OF ‘COHABITATION’ BETWEEN MITTERRAND and Chirac - an enforced coalition between the effective heads of yesterday's government and yesterday's opposition - is a fascinating case-study in constitutional politics. How on earth will the constitution of 1958, which functioned in a reasonably consistent way from 1958 (or at least from 1962) to 1986, perform in the unprecendented situation created by the parliamentary victory of the Right?

As with all case-studies, there are some features specific to the situation. For instance, despite the general consensus that the prime ministership carries greater power, and that M. Chirac's newly-elected government is entitled to carry out its programme (‘the government governs, the president presides’, etc.), it is clear to everyone that the decisive contest for power will be the presidential election of 1988. The 1986 parliamentary election was in a sense a first ballot, or a primary, for the presidential stakes, and all of those principally concerned - Chirac, Barre, Giscard, Mitterrand and Rocard - have for some time calculated their actions in relation to the rendezvous of 1988.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , 01 July 1986 , pp. 259 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1986

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References

1 Le Monde, 21 February 1986.

2 Quoted by Duverger, Maurice, Bréviaire de la Cohabitation, Paris, 1986, p. 7.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., pp. 21–22.

4 Ibid., p. 9.

5 Rosenfeld, Emmanuel, ‘Vivre ensemble’, Le Monde, 27 03 1986 .Google Scholar

6 Radio interview, 24 01 1986 , Le Monde, 26–27 January 1986.Google ScholarPubMed

7 Duhamel, Olivier, ‘Cinq innovations de l’alternance’, Le Monde, 26 03 1986 .Google Scholar

8 Le Monde, 11 April 1986.

9 Financial Times, 22 March 1986.

10 Le Monde, 26 March 1986.

11 ‘Le contrat de cohabitation’, Le Monde, 20 March 1986.

12 See Duverger, Maurice, La Monarchie Rélicaine ou Comment les Démocraties se donnent des Rob, Paris, 1974 Google Scholar, and ‘A New Political System Model: Semi‐Presidential Government’, in European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 8, 1980, pp. 165–87.

13 See Kaltefleiter, Werner, Die Funktionen des Staatsoberhauptes in der Parla‐mentarischen Demokratie, Cologne, 1970 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and (on the Portuguese case) Goldey, D. B., ‘Elections and the Consolidation of Portuguese Democracy: 1974–1983’ in Electoral Studies, Vol. 2, 1983, pp. 229–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.