Paul Smith examines how the Senate has attempted (since 1958) to locate itself within the French (semi-) presidential system, how it asserts its place in relation to President, Government and National Assembly and how it has sought, in recent years, to develop an autonomous and particular sense of identity through its special relationship with the fundamental building block of French political culture -- local government -- by placing itself at the heart of the continuing debate over decentralization and the Jacobin state.