Constitutional Conflict in France: Deputies' Attitudes toward Executive-Legislative Relations

Abstract

The primary purpose of a constitution in a liberal democratic system is to impose restraint on the arbitrary use of power. The favored means of insuring this principle of constitutionalism is a judicious application of the doctrine of separation of powers: a separation which usually includes the functions of government, its agencies, and the individuals who occupy legitimate roles in the government.l Modifications to the constitution are normally evaluated in terms of how they effect the integrity of these divisions. The power which is distributed comes from the consent of the community, and once divided, power is understood as something which can be possessed, redivided, or transferred.2 Political scientists have directed most of their energy toward describing the realities of constitutional development. The present academic consensus is that legislatures have lost most of their constitutional powers. The executive, it is argued, has become the main source of legislative initiative and retains the recognized role of implementing laws. This evaluation is seldom neutral and antiseptic. It normally includes, at least implicitly, the demand that either an old balance be restored or a new one created. This is hardly surprising since the concentration of power is the very antithesis of constitutionalism. Our purpose in this paper is to examine the constitutional preferences of the members of one legislature, the National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. In France, conflict over the Constitution continues to be endemic to political life. There is the ever-present possibility of a constitutional confrontation between the Assembly and the president that would challenge the legitimacy of the entire Constitution. An appreciation of deputies' attitudes towards the desirability of constitutional change and its direction begins with an understanding of constitutional reality in France and the recent course of executive-