This paper takes issue with the change of article 35 of the French constitution in 2008, which endowed the Assemblée nationale and the Sénat with ex-post approval rights for military interventions abroad. Marking a considerable achievement for a formerly largely sidelined parliament, the paper asks the question whether the new constitutional stipulations have led to increased parliamentary involvement in sending forced abroad, understood in terms of both sides taking information sharing seriously, parliamentarians practicing their rights, and participating in decision-making. The paper draws on a discourse analysis of parliamentary debates on military operations since 2003 and on interviews with policy and lawmakers for making its argument about change or continuity of practices of parliamentary involvement. In doing so, the paper contributes to the larger body of literature on practices of parliamentary control of military interventions in various countries, which has not yet dealt with the new French situation in depth.
