Failure of The New Parliamentary System
The intention of the new Constitution's authors was to rationalize the parliamentary system. Ministers were accountable to the legislative body, the French National Assembly, but some measures were introduced in order to protect the cabinet and to reinforce the authority of the President of the Council, who led the cabinet. The goal of the new constitution was to reconcile parliamentary democracy with ministerial stability.
For instance, under the new Constitution, the President of the Council was the leader of the executive branch (Prime Minister of France). The President of the French Republic, elected by the Parliament (the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic), played a symbolic role. His main power was to propose a Prime Minister, who was subject to election by the National Assembly before forming a cabinet. Only the Prime Minister could invoke a parliamentary vote on legitimacy of the cabinet. The Prime Minister was also the only member of the executive able to demand a vote of confidence from the National Assembly (in the Third Republic, any minister could call for a vote of confidence). The cabinet could be dismissed if an absolute majority of the National Assembly's members voted against the cabinet. Finally, the National Assembly could be dissolved after two ministerial crises in the legislature.
However, these constitutional measures did not work. In January 1947, after his election by the National Assembly and the nomination of his ministers, Prime Minister Paul Ramadier called for a vote of confidence in order to verify that the Assembly approved the composition of his cabinet. This initiated a custom of double election, a vote for the Prime Minister followed by a vote of confidence in the chosen cabinet, that weakened the Prime Minister's authority over the cabinet. Cabinets were dismissed with only a plurality (not the absolute majority) of the National Assembly voting against the cabinet. Consequently, these ministerial crises did not result in the dissolution of parliament. Thus, as in the third republic, this regime was characterized by ministerial instability.
The Fourth Republic was also a victim of the political context. The split of the Three-parties alliance in spring 1947, the departure of Communist ministers, Gaullist opposition, and the new proportional representation did not create conditions for ministerial stability. Governmental coalitions were composed of a undisciplined patchwork of centre-left and centre-right parties. Finally, the Fourth Republic was confronted with the collapse of the French colonial empire.
Read more about this topic: French Fourth Republic
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