ABSTRACT
De Gaulle’s belief in the legitimacy of his own direct relationship, through election, with the people – as distinct from the indirect ‘representation’ of the people by politicians, dependent upon a hierarchical structure of authority – illustrates the ambiguous situation of the elites. On the one hand, the formation of technocratic and administrative elites, issuing from the foundation by de Gaulle and his loyal minister, Michel Debré, of the Ecole national d’administration, was considered essential for the postwar reconstruction of France. On the other hand, the same elitist hierarchy could not but jeopardize that direct relationship with the people that de Gaulle so much cherished.
