Doodlewatch

The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing a parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system. It is currently France’s second-longest lasting régime since before the 1789 French Revolution, surpassed only by the Third Republic, and will become the longest-lasting one if it endures until August 12, 2028.

The trigger for the collapse of the French Fourth Republic was the Algiers crisis of 1958. France was still a colonial power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process of decolonization. French West Africa, French Indochina, and French Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in the French Union.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Republic_(France)