The Fifth French Republic is a study of modern French politics and history, discussing the five presidents who span from 1959 to the present—Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valry Giscard d'Estang, Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac.

Philip Thody examines the importance of the similarities between the five men for an understanding of the general and political culture of France; the similarities and differences in the foreign policies pursued by the five presidents, including anti-Americanism; France's role in the European Union and her attitude to the Cold War; French domestic policies and administrative practices, attempts to decentralize the state, the role of the French civil service, the problem of immigration and the rise of the National Front.