René Capitant, the Gaullist in favor of a federal constitution

Hello everyone,

The APROFED association is back with you this weekend to introduce you to René Capitant (1901-1970), a French politician who, nearly 80 years ago, drew up a draft federal constitution for France (see Juspoliticum ).

^{A member} of the Resistance during the Second World War, René Capitant contributed to the work formulated by the National Assembly, under the Fourth Republic, to revise the Constitution tainted by the Vichy regime.

His work will be at the origin of the federal organization of the French Union.

A Gaullist at heart, at the origin of the Gaullist union and leader of General de Gaulle’s party, the RPF, Capitant’s federal project, for a republican, federal and democratic Constitution, aims to oppose that of the socialists and communists wishing to apply a Jacobin, unitary democracy, where the National Assembly would be the first power of France, before the executive, and within which the principle of equality would be the basis, as in 1789, de facto integrating all overseas representatives into proportional representation.

Capitant perceived the risk of submerging metropolitan representatives with those from overseas, since the population of these territories was then twice that of metropolitan France. Metropolitan legislators would thus find themselves at a disadvantage, passing laws that could be detrimental to the metropolis. Therefore, he proposed the implementation of a federal structure specifically for the overseas territories with a view to replacing the former colonial empire.

Furthermore, wanting the role of General de Gaulle during the Second World War to be recognized, he proposed greater executive power, allowing the general to be above the Assembly, as well as the establishment of popular sovereignty in order to limit the power of elected officials, particularly the Assembly. Although not proposing universal suffrage as a method of election, René Capitant believed that the people remained the sole holder of sovereignty , in line with the thinker Rousseau. Federalism was for him a post-national democracy ; the nation, like the region, the commune, … was only a collectivity . Federalism and popular sovereignty went hand in hand for all intellectuals defending one or other of these principles. His federal project thus attacked the representative regime, which was too centralizing, which did not please the constituents.

There are therefore two opposing theses for overseas territories :

– that of assimilation, or integration , proposed by the left with equality in rights and duties, returning to the traditional colonial policy which was however never applied,

– and that of autonomy with special statuses in association with the metropolis, which Capitant defends.

At the end of the debates and work, the assembly adopted in April 1946 a Constitution proposing a mix between the two aspirations . The National Assembly became the assembly of the entire French Union with broad local autonomy offered to satisfy the overseas populations.

On the eve of the vote to amend the Constitution , Capitant wrote his book: For a Federal Constitution , in which he proposed the establishment of federated states, using the term “federated republics” with their own constitutions . The president of the Republic would become the president of the federal government and of the Union. Federal laws and the laws of the federated states could be different, even if he did not yet propose a division of powers.

His project is inspired by that of the United States and its presidential system. Although it aims to maintain French sovereignty over the former colonies, René Capitant wants a real democratic evolution of the overseas territories , unlike Michel Debré, at the origin of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, who shows little interest in the overseas territories (see. At the origins of the new Constitution – Persée ).

Debré and Capitant are the two main Gaullist theorists of constitutional law. However, Michel Debré considers federalism as a desire for secession. Capitant’s project hardly inspires him, as he believes the latter is influenced by the theories of Malberg and the German school.

Thus, in 1958, his project was never implemented during the creation of the Community, because France wanted to maintain its control over local autonomy. The consequence was that no subject country sincerely and lastingly joined this Community, which lasted only a few years and ended with the independence of a majority of the former colonies.

Thus, almost 1000 years after the missed opportunity to adopt a federal system like the Holy Roman Empire (see The example of the Holy Roman Empire – APROFED ), France at the end of the Second World War, unlike Germany, once again missed the opportunity to renew its way of running society after this ordeal , favoring a strong central State to the detriment of its populations who wanted local management with regard to non-sovereign powers.

We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.

The APROFED association