Jean-Jacques Urvoas is a member, from Finistère, of the French National Assembly, National Secretary of the Socialist Party and a senior lecturer in public law at the University of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Marion Alexandre is a parliamentary adviser to the National Assembly and a lecturer in public law at the University of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Bastien François is a professor of political science at the University of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne and the author of, notably, La Constitution Sarkozy and La Constitution de la 6e République.

The French National Assembly remains a terra incognita — although much ink has been spilled in examining its working rules and it receives regular media scrutiny regarding some new bill under discussion or the members’ latest act of defiance. But such partial insights fail to make us grasp the reality of parliamentary life, which is a constant battlefield, with trench warfare regularly succeeding commando operations, where armistices are always short, where snipers rub shoulders with regular soldiers, and where improvisation and the ability to respond rapidly are as indispensable as the knowledge of institutional rules.
Contrasting law and actual practice, while taking into account the latest constitutional changes, the authors divulge the implicit rules of a secret world, compare the relative force of experience and tradition, reveal the relations between the various players and, finally, incite the reader — whether future parliamentarian or curious citizen — to dust off the cobwebs of parliamentary law.
Written by two specialists in the rules of parliamentary jousting, this book casts light on the hidden face of France’s National Assembly.

• In the corridors of power of the National Assembly, we encounter Jean-François Copée, Arnaud Montebourg, Bernard Accoyer, among other French politicians.
• In the run-up to France’s parliamentary elections, everything one needs to know about the inner workings of the National Assembly.