For all the authoritarian habits of de Gaulle or François Mitterand, Sarkozy’s personalization of the presidency is unprecedented in the history of the Fifth Republic. Sarkozy makes little secret of his disdain for members of his own party, luring Socialists like Kouchner and Rama Yade, the junior minister for foreign affairs, into his cabinet, and naming retired Socialist politicians like former Prime Minister Michel Rocard to head national commissions and represent France in international treaty negotiations.