What is meant by the French party system, and what has produced its changing form in the period since 1958?

Résumé du document

The French party system emerged in the form of parliamentary factions in the Third Republic. Soon enough, these factions were no longer only evident at the parliamentary level, but were organising the nation. From 1958, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the political parties in France as the constitution of this year recognises political parties as legitimate ‘representative institutions'. These changes had an impact not only on the role of the parties, but also on the way in which politics and elections took place. The term ‘French party system' implies that there are political parties, which work together in a system as a system. The system is not static and so, as has been noticed over the years, varied in form. There have been three main compositions to the French party system: a strongly polarised multi-partisan system, strict bi-polarisation, and multi-partisan with a dominant party.

Extraits

[...] What is meant by the French party system, and what has produced its changing form in the period since 1958? The French party system emerged in the form of parliamentary factions in the Third Republic. Soon enough, these factions were no longer only evident at the parliamentary level, but were organising the nation. From 1958, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the political parties in France as the constitution of this year recognises political parties as legitimate ‘representative institutions'. [...]

[...] Secondly, questions such as decolonisation and the European Defence Community were able to considerably split parties. A third important problem was because the government terms were so short, their performance could not be used as a criterion of judgment showing little progress from the Third Republic. The Fifth Republic brought stability to the French party system as de Gaulle initiated a number of changes. These include a redrafting of the constitution as well as an amendment. Through these changes, which shall be further discussed below, the party system seemed to be becoming increasingly presidential. [...]

[...] Cole, French Politics and Society. p.148. Cole, French Politics and Society. p.151. [...]

[...] The politico-institutional factors used to account for the bipolarisation of the French party system are usually said to be related to the prestigious role of the President advanced by de Gaulle during the period from 1958 to 1969. In addition, the change relating to the election of the President in 1962 created pressures that led to a natural bipolarisation. Finally, the constitution of the Fifth Republic enforces the executive government, which is another factor that tends to lead towards bipolarisation. [...]

[...] Gaullism had an important role to play in the reasons explaining why the party system became bipolarised. The strength of the right forced the left to unite in order to have any chances of surviving and coming into power. In fact, since 1962 onwards, an unseen amount of close collaboration and cooperation has been achieved between the traditional rival camps of the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. One can also notice a disappearing centre, which was being absorbed by the right and in particular by Giscard d'Estaing's UDF. [...]