Parliamentary republic established by the October 1946 constitution; marked by chronic cabinet instability, postwar reconstruction, and the wars in Indochina and Algeria. Collapsed amid the May 1958 political crisis over Algeria.
Ended when the National Assembly invested Charles de Gaulle with power to draft a new constitution (June 1958), leading to the Fifth Republic's promulgation on 4 October 1958.
Comparative treatment of the Third and Fourth Republics' parliamentary systems and instability.