Abstract
Exactly 50 years after the birth of the 5th Republic, the influence of its founder is still omnipresent in the organization of French politics. De Gaulle was not only the leader of French resistance during WWII and the leader of the "la France libre", solution to the Algerian crisis; he was also responsible for the origin of our current Constitution. He established a political tradition of practices and principles - that still finds echoes at the moment. From the UNR (Union pour la Nouvelle République) to the RPR (Rassemblement pour la République) and through the more independent Debout pour la République for instance, most political parties have made their "Gaullist? label prominent, since it is still very popular among voters. Thus Jacques Chirac, former French president from 1995 to 2007, clearly proclaimed his Gaullist inheritance. Yet, we can deny that the context has changed since De Gaulle's reign and therefore that the concept of Gaullism is highly dependent on the people using it. Nicolas Sarkozy, during his campaign until his present term in office, kept affirming from time to time his fidelity to De Gaulle's ideas. To what extent can his acts be considered faithful to this declaration? Can Sarkozy really be considered the contemporary incarnation of Gaullism as it was set up by De Gaulle? If not, does the parting come from the impossible adaptation of original Gaullism in today's world or in the special treatment of this idea by Sarkozy?
