De Gaulle's Republic 1958 - 1969

Abstract

This is a module framework. It can be viewed online or downloaded as a zip file.

As taught in Spring Semester 2010,

This module examines the founding first decade of the Fifth Republic by focusing principally, though not exclusively, on the personality and political ideas of Charles de Gaulle.

It begins by examining his emergence as the providential leader of the Resistance, to the frustrations of the Liberation and his thwarted plans for the constitutional renaissance of France, through the Fourth Republic and the wilderness years to his return in 1958, before turning to focus on the new regime and tracing the political history of the Fifth Republic between 1958 and 1969: the period Pierre Viansson-Ponté christened ‘la République gaullienne’.

The main, though by no means exclusive axes of enquiry will be the constitutional mutation of the regime and the political narrative in the period.

This module is suitable for undergraduate level 3 study.

Dr Paul Smith.

Dr Smith is a historian who specialises in 19th and 20th century French politics, political institutions and political culture. He has particular research interests in the French Senate, Feminism in France 1914-1945, French local government, and Contemporary French Politics in general. Recent research and publication outputs have concentrated on the French Senate, from 1870 to the present day.