To understand the Fifth Republic's design, we must first examine why its predecessors faltered:
The First Republic (1792-1804)
Born from the French Revolution, the First Republic struggled with the tension between revolutionary ideals and practical governance. The period saw rapid shifts between moderate and radical phases, culminating in the Terror. Political instability, combined with external wars and internal divisions, eventually gave way to Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état. The Republic's inability to create stable institutions while managing revolutionary change proved its undoing.
The Second Republic (1848-1852)
Following the 1848 Revolution, the Second Republic attempted to balance democratic aspirations with social order. However, conflicts between conservative rural areas and radical urban centers created insurmountable tensions. The election of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte as president, followed by his coup and transformation into Emperor Napoleon III, demonstrated the Republic's vulnerability to charismatic authoritarianism when democratic institutions remained weak.
The Third Republic (1870-1940)
The longest-lasting of France's republics emerged from military defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Despite surviving seventy years, it suffered from chronic governmental instability, with 108 different governments. The parliamentary system's weakness became fatal when faced with the Nazi invasion in 1940. Marshal Pétain's Vichy regime represented not just military defeat but the collapse of republican institutions.
The Fourth Republic (1946-1958)
Established after World War II, the Fourth Republic repeated many of the Third Republic's mistakes. The parliamentary system, with its proportional representation and weak executive, produced coalition governments that couldn't address pressing issues like decolonization. The Algerian crisis finally exposed the regime's fundamental inability to make difficult decisions or maintain authority.