Diamonds and videotape: political scandals and the presidents of the Fifth French Republic

There have been many books on individual affairs of various kinds, but considerably fewer on the social and historical significance of political scandal in general. Yet, the phenomenon has recently emerged as a key new area of study. This is partly because of the exposure of political corruption and the growth of corruption scandals in advanced democracies since the 1980s, which have made clear that scandals are a typical phenomenon of the modern ag