![handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry46 and id is 1 raw text is:
Volume XL VI]
March, 1931
[Number i
POLITICAL SCIENCE
QUARTERLY
MINISTERIAL INSTABILITY IN FRANCE
CABINET government in France is usually described
as a kaleidoscopic succession of different ministries.
The description does not exaggerate. How rapidly
does the kaleidoscope move? Are many different colors
exhibited or are they pretty much alike? How symmetrical
are the forms which are disclosed? Answers to these ques-
tions are rarely given. In part the answers must be statis-
tical, even though it was a Frenchman who once defined
statistics as a means of being precise about matters of which
you are ignorant.'
1 Data on the composition and tenure of French ministries are to be found in
the Journal Officiel, Doc. Par., Annexes; Guy Lavaud, Les Declarations minis-
terielles et les minist~res (du 4 septembre 187o au ier janvier 1914) (Paris,
1914) ; E. LeChartier, La France et son parlement (1871-1912) (Paris, 1911),
pp. 61-90; Leon Muel, Tableau synoptique de tous les minist~res de la Troisibme
Republique (i87o-1r95) (Paris, 1915), and Tableau synoptique des ministires de
la Grand Guerre (Paris, 1920) ; Rend Samuel et Geo. Bonet-Maury, Les Parle-
mentaires franfais 9oo-r914 (Paris, 1914) ; Soci6t6 d'Histoire Moderne (Sgrie
des Instruments de Travail, Les Minist~res franfais (1789-igii) (Paris, 1911),
and Suppiment (19l2-I922) (Paris, 1922).
There is little agreement among these sources on either the number of minis-
tries, their personnel, ior ithe dates which mark the beginning or end of their
terms of office. For example, the number of ministries from September 4, 1870
to January I, 1914 has been given by Lavaud and by La Soci4td d'Histoire
Moderne as 52, but LeChartier lists 54 ministries for the same period and
Muel, 56. This discrepancy arises mainly through counting as a separate min-
istry a cabinet which holds over into the term of a new President of the
Republic (as in the case of M. Briand in 1913). Some authorities date the
beginning of a cabinet from the day when its formation was announced in the
press, others from the date the official announcement appeared in the Journal
Oficiel. Legally a ministry does not end until a new ministry has been officially
announced. Actually, the ministry has ended and the crisis is opened imme-
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