Examining the nature of the Fifth Republic after its first 42 years, this study looks at the challenges posed by new parties and new expressions of political mobilization.

Chapter 1 The Changing French Political System: Introduction, Robert Elgie; Chapter 2 The Parties of the French 'Plural Left': An Uneasy Complementarity, Joseph Szarka; Chapter 3 The Right: Divisions and Cleavages in fin de siècle France, Paul Hainsworth; Chapter 4 The New Social Movement Phenomenon: Placing France in Comparative Perspective, Andrew Appleton; Chapter 5 Amendments to the French Constitution: One Surprise After Another, Guy Carcassonne; Chapter 6 The Fifth Republic: From the Droit de l'État to the État de droit?, Vincent Wright; Chapter 7 The Changing Role of French Local Government, Emmanuel Négrier; Chapter 8 The Changing Dynamics of State-Society Relations in the Fifth Republic, Vivien A. Schmidt; Chapter 9 The Service Public Under Stress, Alistair Cole; Chapter 10 Restructuring Health Policy Networks: A French Policy Style?, Steven Griggs; Chapter 11 The End of French Exceptionalism?, Jill Lovecy; abstracts Abstracts;