Addresses essential questions about the determinants and dynamics of the French political system and of its institutions, dispelling the stereotypical view of it as an exceptional model of politics.

SYLVAIN BROUARD is Senior Research Fellow FNSP at SPIRIT, Sciences Po Bordeaux, France, having worked previously at the Center of Political Research of Sciences-Po (CEVIPOF). His research focuses on lawmaking in Western democracies and on minority politics. He published a breakthrough book on French citizens from Africa and Turkey in 2005, and his most recent book is about the French referendum on the ECT (2007). He is currently co-directing in the French Agendas Project.

ANDREW APPLETON is Associate Professor of Political Science at Washington State University, USA, and the Director of the Global Studies Program. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from New York University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a B.Soc.Sci. from the University of Birmingham. He is the editor (with Daniel S. Ward) of State Party Profiles, and the author of numerous articles and book chapters. He co-edits, with Robert Elgie, the Palgrave journal French Politics.

AMY G. MAZUR is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Washington State University, USA. Her most recent books include: Theorizing Feminist Policy (2002); and Politics, Gender and Concepts (editor with Gary Goertz, 2008). She is co editor of Political Research Quarterly and co-convener of the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State and of the French Politics Group of the APSA.

France the Unexceptional--A.Appleton
PART I: DECISION-MAKING INSTITUTIONS
Studying the Presidency under the Fifth Republic: Past Approaches and Future Perspectives--R.Elgie
Governments under the Fifth Republic: The Changing Instruments/Weapons of Executive Control--E.Grossman
Gone with the Wind? The National Assembly under the Fifth Republic--E.Kerrouche
The French Party System: Fifty Years of Change--N.Sauger
The Constitutional Council: The Rising Regulator of French Politics--S.Brouard
Defence and Armed Forces: The End of the Nuclear Monarchy?--B.Irondelle
France, Europe and the World: Foreign Policy and the Political Regime of The Fifth Republic--R.Balme
PART II: INSTITUTIONS AND STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS
Economic Interventionism in the Fifth Republic--B.Clift
Patterns of Public Budgeting in the French Fifth Republic: From Hierarchical Control To Multi-Level Governance--F.Baumgartner, A.Franois&--M.Foucault
Rethinking Social Protection in the Fifth Republic: Buttressed Liberalization in an Age of Austerity--M.Vail
Local/Regional Governments and Centre-Periphery Relations in the Fifth Republic--P.le Gals&--G.Pinson
The Demise of Statism? Associations and the Transformation of Interest Intermediation in France--C.Woll
PART III: THE REPUBLICAN UNIVERSAL MODEL AS INSTITUTION
Republican Universalism Faces the Feminist Challenge: The Continuing Struggle for Gender Equality--E.Lpinard&--A.Mazur
Race, Racism and Anti-Discrimination in France--A.C.d'Appolina