The Fifth French Republic: Presidents, Politics and Personalities

Download or read book The Fifth French Republic: Presidents, Politics and Personalities written by Philip Thody and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-31 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fifth French Republic is a study of modern French politics and history, discussing the five presidents who span from 1959 to the present--Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valry Giscard d'Estang, Fran5~ois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac. Philip Thody examines the importance of the similarities between the five men for an understanding of the general and political culture of France; the similarities and differences in the foreign policies pursued by the five presidents, including anti-Americanism; France's role in the European Union and her attitude to the Cold War; French domestic policies and administrative practices, attempts to decentralize the state, the role of the French civil service, the problem of immigration and the rise of the National Front.