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Constitutions éphémères, structures sociales durables? A propos d'un paradoxe français

This article constests the widespread view that constitutions have been merely superstructural phenomena in modern French history. First, if constitutional texts have often been short-lived, the same is not true of the constitution more broadly understood. Secondly, even the texts reveal much more continuity than we usually imagine. Thirdly, constitutional texts have often stood at the heart of political conflict because of the historical baggage attached to them. In the nineteenth century it was, typically, liberals who tried to shift the political agenda away from an obsession with constitutional texts, arguing that France lacked a culture of civility.