This dissertation has bean microfilmedexactly as r e c e iv e d 68—8882 SMITH, Thomas Alexander, 1936- y L'UNION POUR LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE: GAULLISM IN THE FIFTH REPUBLIC. The Ohio State University, Ph.D.t 1967 Political Science, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan (£) Copyright by Thomas Alexander Smith 1966 L'UNION POUR LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE: GAULLISM IN THE FIFTH REPUBLIC DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Thomas Alexander Smith, B.A., A.M. ****** The Ohio State University 1967 Approved by U Adviser Department of Political Science ACKNOWLEDGMENT S At this time I would like to acknowledge a debt to several individuals who have contributed so much to this work. First, to the late Professor Edgar S. Furniss whose deep Insight into the workings of the French polity aided me Immeasurably in my attempts to understand the nature of the UNB. and its role in the Fifth Republic. His encouragement and friendship will never be forgotten. Secondly, to Professor James A. Robinson who agreed to supervise the completion of the dissertation after Professor Furniss*s tragic death, and to Professor Andrew Axllne who painstakingly read the dissertation and whose comments were so helpful 1 am extremely grateful. Thirdly, to my wife, Camille, who never lost faith in the project and who laboriously typed the initial draft of this dissertation, I can never repay in full the debt. It is to her and the memory of Professor Furniss that I humbly dedicate this study. ii VITA November 12t 1936 Born - Reidsvllle, North Carolina 1960 .......... B.A., Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1963 .......... M.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1963 ........... Instructor, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 1964 - 1965 . Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 1966 - 1967 . Lecturer, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. PUBLICATIONS "Algeria and the French Moderes," The Western Political Quarterly» March 1965, pp.116-134. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Political Science. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................... ii VITA ......................................... ill LIST OF T A B L E S ..................................... v Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .............................. 1 II. THE BURDEN OF ALGERIA: THE UNR IN SEARCH OF ARO L E .............. 13 III. THE BURDEN OF ALGERIA: RESOLUTION OF THE INTRA-PARTY CONFLICT . 50 IV. DE GAULLE AND THE U N R ......................123 V. THE UNR ELITE: ITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS .......................... 186 VI. THE UNR E L E C T O R A T E ......................... 217 VII. CONCLUSION ................................ 258 APPENDIX ............................................. 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 272 lv LIST OF TABLES Table Page I The Party with which Voters Identify Most C l o s e l y ........................................226 II Percentage of 1956 Party Supporters Who Voted UNR in 1958 242 III Percentage of 1958 Party Supporters Who Voted UNR in 1962 243 IV Percentage of Party Voters Who Felt Closest to the U N R ................................. 244 V Percentage of Interested, Uninterested and No Response Voters at Time of First Round Balloting on November 23, 1958 ........... 248 VI Percentage of Strong and Weak Participants in 1958 Election on the Left, Right, for the UNR and "other" G r o u p s ........................ 250 VII Percentage of Stated Party Preference of Weak Participators................................. 251 VIII Percentages Concerning Time Voter Made Party Decision for Vote of November 23, 1958 • . 254 IX UNR Deputies Who Voted Against Their Majority and Government Positions.................. 264 v I INTRODUCTION France is today a country governed for the most part by a single Individual, General de Gaulle, who apparently depends upon only a few trusted confidants In determining the destinies of his nation.^ These confidants, moreover, do not tend to be the traditional politicians who played such a large part in the Fourth Republic, but, rather, they are much more likely to come from the administrative and 2 large business sections of French society. So far as the continuity of executive power is concerned, the ascension to power of General de Gaulle has given the country its most stable period in many years. The age of the rise and fall of governments seems to be a thing of the past — for the time being at least. The coalitions of numerous parties which were neces­ sary in earlier years for the formation of cabinets are no ^See, e.g., Pierre Viansson-Ponte, "Ceux Qui Ont l'Oreille du General," RgalitSs. May 1965, pp.64-67; and also his article in Le Monde, May 9, 1962. 2 E.g., Henry Ehrmann, "French Bureaucracy and Organized Interests," Administrative Science Quarterly, March 1961, pp. 554-55. -1- 2. longer needed: Gaulllsts and their allies control an abso­ lute majority of the seats In the lower house, the National Assembly. Not only are several parties no longer necessary for the formation of governments, but they fall to pose a real danger to the cabinet's stability. In fact, the great political parties which dominated the politics of the Fourth Republic for the most part have been submerged by the Gaulllst tide. The Independents and Radicals for all prac­ tical purposes have been decimated, whereas the Communist and Socialist parliamentary strength is still below what we might expect normally. The bankruptcy of the Democratic Left in France at the present time is nowhere more apparent than in the machinations of recent months by the older parties to submerge their differences at the time of the 1965 Presidential elections.^ In the Fifth Republic a new parliamentary formation has come into being in place of the traditional parties: L'Union pour la Nouvelle Republique (UNR); or to be more correct and include the small number of left-wing Gaullists who joined the UNR in 1962: L'Union pour la Nouvelle Republique-Union Democratique du Travail. In­ deed, as we have already suggested, it has become the most important of the political groupings and in recent years has come close to capturing an absolute majority of the seats in the National Assembly. Throughout the Fifth Republic it has ^See, e.g., Andre Philip's Le Monde. October 7-13, 1965, Weekly Edition. 3 . been the major political party in terms of parliamentary seats. Nevertheless, the UNR-UDT has received little scholar­ ly attention. The basic reason for this state of affairs would seem to lie in any lack of apparent real power exer­ cised by political parties in the Fifth Republic. The very institution which in the past has been identified with their Influence, the National Assembly, has seen its strength eroded in the last few years. There can be no denying the fact that political parties have receded from the limelight as a force in French politics. Thus, pressure group activity is no longer centered around Parliament as it once was. The primary target for the great interests now seems to be concentrated upon the bureaucracy/ Moreover, the use of the referendum by the President has enabled him to by-pass the legislature and ultimately the parties when he so decides. The generous employment of Article 16 of the Constitution is important in this respect. Policy now is determined elsewhere. The President has become such a dominant figure in France today that all major decisions apparently have been determined by General de Gaulle himself or in consultation with a few highly placed bureaucrats and confidants. In­ deed, the question arises as to why there is a need for ^See Bernard E. Brown, "Pressure Politics in the Fifth Republic," The Journal of Politics. August 1963, pp. 509- 25. 4 . political parties at all. Recognizing this state of af­ fairs a well-known Gaullist opined that their function in the future will be mainly as propagandizers of public policy. In a word, they are unlikely to have a major role as decision-makers.'* Moreover, the many statements of de Gaulle himself over the years have not been calculated to enhance the respect of the citizenry for parties; indeed, he has been very critical of them. Hence, little interest has been shown in the UNR. The fact that power seems to have shifted decisively from the legislature to the executive in general and to de Gaulle in particular has probably encouraged scholars to conclude that a study of parties is not especially fruitful. Whereas many writers have given General de Gaulle and his political views exhaustive treatment, few of them have given more than passing attention to the UNR. The very group which propelled him into power has thus been largely ignored. Nevertheless, a study of the UNR might offer a mean­ ingful contribution to the literature of political science. Several reasons might be offered. In the first place, we might justify such a study for a very simple reason, namely that the Party Itself has been largely Ignored by scholars. To our knowledge, there is not a thorough ^Apparently, as we shall see, many Gaullists do not seem to mind that the UNR is to play a secondary role. See, e.g., Edmond Michelet, Le Gaullisme, Passionnante Aventure, Paris: Fayard, 1962, pp. 152ff. 5. treatment In English or French of the Gaullist Party itself. Hence, an addition to the literature of French politics con­ cerned with a political group having a numerical majority in the National Assembly would seem to have some utility in itself. Secondly, it is rather obvious that as the largest French party by far, the UNR is possibly a great source for stability in the Republic today. After all, it enables President de Gaulle to put through his programs by allowing him to form a government which in turn can rely upon obe­ dient deputies.