While we regularly talk about the crisis that French democracy is going through today, history may have something to teach us. How have we moved from one Republic to another for more than two centuries? With Nicolas Roussellier, historian, author of the book which has become a classic The power to govern. Executive power in France, 19th-21st centuries (Gallimard), La Loupe delves into the history of the French republics.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation and writing), Ambre Rosala (editing), Jules Krot (directing), Marion Galard (work-study) and Xavier Yvon (editing-in-chief).
Credits: Echoes of France (La marseillaise), Django Reinhardt, A people and their king, by Pierre Schoeller, French-speaking Switzerland television, INA, Adventure is adventureClaude Lelouch, The Unknowns, Public Senate
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Picture credits: Keith Lance/Nastasic/iStockphoto/L’Express
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
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Charlotte Barris: It will not have escaped you that in recent months politics, democracy and French institutions have been at the heart of many discussions. The pension reform and the postponement of the retirement age to 64 have crystallized all the tensions, to the point that many observers and actors today speak of a “democratic crisis”.
The Fifth Republic, established on October 4, 1958, itself celebrates its 64th anniversary this year. Which makes some say that it might be time for her to retire. Others even claim, sometimes for a long time, a Sixth Republic.
But whoever says Ve, or even VIe, says that there were four others before. How did we go from one to the other? Do the crises that led to the end of these four Republics still have consequences today? Can we learn lessons from this for our current regime?
To answer all these questions, La Loupe delves this week into the history of the French republican model. From the First Republic and Napoleon Bonaparte, to the Fourth and the Algerian War, passing through the Second Empire and the Vichy regime, we will cover more than two centuries of politics.
Episode 1: the First Republic and the birth of a French regime
For further
The left and the Sixth Republic: a truly sincere conversion?
Olivier Faure: “We have reached the end of the Fifth Republic”
Should we put an end to the Fifth Republic?