In France and other Continental countries the multiple-party system exists and coalition government was the only possibility be fore the fifth Republic in the former came into being. The result was that the government was a combination of strange bed-follows who had nothing in common; no leader to follow, no definite programme to pursue, and no discipline to observe. All this led to a precarious tenure of the government. For example, during the twenty-three years from the end of the First World War to the French collapse in the Second World War, France had forty-two governments, while Britain had eleven, averaging six months, and twenty-five months respectively. When the life of government is precarious and short, it is hesitant and unable to take a long view of policy. Its work is largely limited to matters of daily administration and its chief purpose is to remain in office instead of really governing.