1. See M. Duverger (1974) La monarchie républicaine ou comment les démocraties se donnent des rois (Paris: Robert Laffont).
2. M. Duverger (1978) Echec au roi (Paris: Albin Michel).
3. H. Bahro, B.H. Bayerlein and E. Veser ‘Semi-Presidential Government Revisited’, European Journal of Political Research, 34, 2, October 1998, pp.201–224.
4. Such mythology has a contagious quality and can spread to others, the classic case being the (unjustified and misogynistic) opprobrium directed at Marie-Antoinette during the Revolution — an opprobrium that only began to be properly addressed two centuries later. See, inter alia, Carolly Erickson (2000) To the Scaffold. The Life of Marie-Antoinette (London: Robson).
5. The Fondation nationale des sciences politiques has always put out exhaustive analyses after each presidential and legislative election. There have been countless books, articles, and journal special issues devoted to the 1981 elections. See in particular A. Lancelot (ed.) (1986) 1981, les élections de l’alternance (Paris: Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques).