French presidential election, 1981

As one quickly comes to realize in the study of politics, the "rules of the game," the institutional design can determine the fate of the players in the game. This could be no truer than in the French political system. Surrounding the French presidential election of 1981 was an absolutely extraordinary set of circumstances that moved the France into a new phase of politics. From these circumstantial anomalies emerged the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic; indeed, the election of Socialist François Mitterrand marked the first administration change in the Fifth Republic.

Related Topics:
Politics - French political system - 1981 - France - Socialist - President - Fifth Republic - François Mitterrand

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Since this election in 1981, the French electorate has been increasingly willing to venture into unknown political territory and accept nontraditional developments in the administration. This change in attitude is apparent mostly in Mitterrand?s election, but also in the events that followed the election: the first coalition administration, the development of unlikely political bedfellows who still manage to muster a sizable percentage of votes, and the fruition of various reforms that would have been viewed as radical only a decade or so before. It seems that the election of 1981 introduced more than a new President for the French people, it also brought new concepts for the French political system.

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