The institution of the Prime Minister in France remains remarkably understudied. There are many personalised accounts of the work of individual Prime Ministers and their relations with Presidents and government ministers. However, there has been no rigorous attempt to analyse the Prime Minister's overall influence in the decision-making process. The aim of this book is to examine the contemporary role of the Prime Minister in the French political system. By so doing, it provides a systematic analysis of the Prime Minister's influence over the policy-making process from 1981 to 1991.