Raphaël Hadas-Lebel is a French State Councillor and a professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, in Paris. He has held numerous important positions in government and the public sector.

Should France abandon the five-year presidential term? Should it proscribe political cohabitation (following the failure of the presidential party to acquire a parliamentary majority)? Is a second chamber necessary? How can the Constitutional Council be made to evolve?

In the run-up to France’s presidential elections, Raphaël Hadas-Lebel offers us a critical review of the institutions of the Fifth Republic, which, in the course of fifty years, have amply shown their adaptability and capacity to weather crises. Yet in some quarters in France it is now felt that a radical overhaul may be required — with the creation of a Sixth Republic that would acknowledge recent demands for increased participatory democracy and more justice, in accord with a greatly changed social and political environment brought about by the European Union and the pre-eminence of economic issues.

This clearly written, instructive work that is not limited to strictly constitutional issues will help each reader assess the pertinence of French political institutions.


• The author’s lucid, pedagogical approach will allow students and general readers alike to understand French political institutions.
• In 18 questions the author examines a range of issues — including the most recent reforms — with balance and impartiality.