“Fifty years of constitutional change: a France-UK comparison”

The year 2008 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 5th Republic. This is a good time, therefore, to compare constitutional evolution in Britain and France. In 1958, the British could feel superior when looking across the Channel. The unwritten British Constitution had survived two world wars, and confidence in British institutions was high. Indeed, the Westminster Model was in the process of being exported to the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa as the ideal model of government. The French, by contrast, were in the midst of a constitutional struggle and the threat of a military putsch or even civil war over the Algerian issue did not seem too far away. After 1958, however, the 5th Republic seemed, for many years, to have provided a stable solution to France’s constitutional problems. Indeed, the 5th Republic is already the second longest-lasting of the various French regimes since 1789. In Britain, by contrast, there was, after the 1960s, a loss of national self-confidence and a questioning of traditional institutions, which culminated in the radical constitutional reforms of the Blair government. Even though Britain has recovered economically from the trough of the 1970s, the constitutional self-confidence of the 1950s has gone, perhaps for ever. Few now praise the Westminster Model, and none of the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe have adopted it. But in France also, there is a new questioning mood, and some questioning as to the merits of the structure bequeathed by de Gaulle. The recent report of the Balladur Commission offers a valuable critique of the constitution.

This conference, therefore, is particularly timely. It comprises the following sessions. Each session will be given by a British and a French speaker.

The conference will begin in the afternoon of Thursday 15th May and conclude on the evening of 16th May. The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw and Mrs. Noëlle Lenoir have generously agreed to give keynote addresses on 15th May.

Thursday 15th May 2008

Dahrendorf Room, St Antony’s College

With the participation of John Loughlin (University of Cardiff), Jean Leca (Sciences Po) and Denis Baranger (Université Paris II Assas).

2 – 3.30 The Evolution of the British and French Constitutions.
· Britain – The Ongoing Process of Constitutional Reform. Vernon Bogdanor (Brasenose College, University of Oxford).
· France – The Fifth Republic – Questioning the Constitution. Régis Ponsard (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne).

3.30 – 3.45 Tea.

3.45 – 5.15 The Executive in Britain and France.
· Britain – The End of Cabinet Government? Sir Christopher Foster.
· France – An Unaccountable Executive? Emiliano Grossman (Sciences Po – Cevipof).

6.30 – 7 Keynote speeches by the Rt. Hon. Jack Straw, MP, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice, and Mrs. Noëlle Lenoir, former French minister of European Affairs and former member of the Conseil constitutionnel. Access restricted.

Friday 16th May 2008

Dahrendorf Room, St Antony’s College

With the participation of Noëlle Lenoir (former French minister of European Affairs), John Loughlin (University of Cardiff), Jean Leca (Sciences Po), Gérard Grunberg (Sciences Po) and Denis Baranger (Université Paris II Assas).

9 – 10 Legislative Scrutiny and Control.
· Britain – Has Reform Succeeded in Renewing Parliament? Philip Cowley (University of Nottingham).
· France – Parliamentary Control in France: Three ways of Parliamentarisation for the Fifth Republic. Olivier Rozenberg (Sciences Po – Cevipof).

10 – 11 Judicial Review.
· Britain – The Human Rights Act and its Consequences. Alicia Hinarejos (Brasenose College, University of Oxford)
· France – The Role of the Conseil Constitutionnel. Sylvain Brouard (Sciences Po – Cevipof).

11 – 11.15 Tea

11.15 – 12.15 Direct Democracy.
· Britain – The Coming of the Referendum. Mads Qvortrup (Robert Gordon University)
· France – Is the Referendum Still Viable? Laurence Morel (SUM, Florence).

12.15 – 2 Lunch

2 – 3.30 Decentralization.
· Britain – The Demise of Local Government? George Jones (London School of Economics and Political Science).
· France – The End of the Jacobin State? Alain Faure (IEP, Grenoble).

3.30 – 5.00 Conclusion: The Future of the British and French Constitutions.
· Britain. Vernon Bogdanor (Brasenose College, University of Oxford).
· France – Has the Constitution of the Fifth Republic Outlived its Usefulness? Guy Carcassonne (Université Paris X Nanterre).

Please register on the Department website, as the number of seats is restricted

Acknowledgements: This conference is being generously supported by the Fell Fund (University of Oxford), the Department of Politics and International Relations (University of Oxford), the Maison française d’Oxford, the European Studies Centre (St Antony’s College, University of Oxford), the European Research Group (University of Oxford, Sciences Po, CNRS and Maison Française) and the French Embassy in the United Kingdom.

How to get to the conference: http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about/directions.html