Michel Rocard

Rocard's French premiership rewards attention to the agreements behind the announcements. The 1988 Matignon accords brought opposing New Caledonian leaders into a settlement, while his government introduced the RMI minimum-income benefit. Neither emerged from personal authority alone: negotiations, advisers and parliamentary arithmetic mattered. His frequent use of constitutional confidence procedures also exposes the tension in this kind of effectiveness. Making a government function without an absolute majority can narrow the space for ordinary legislative compromise.