FRANCE

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FRANCE
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FRANCE

• One of the most modern countries in the world and
  a leader among European nations. (EU)
  
• It has constructed a presidential democracy
• Government type is Republic
• Written Constitution It was amended for several
  reasons (The constitution now in effect was
  written in 1958)
  
• Chief of State President (Nicolas Sarkozy), Head
  of Government Prime Minister (Francois Fillon
  who was appointed by President), Cabinet Council
  of Ministers appointed by the president on the
  suggestion of Prime Minister, Elections
  President elected by popular vote for a five-year
  term (Executive)
• Bicameral parliament consists of the Senate and
  National Assembly (Legislative)
  
• Supreme Court of Appeals, Constitutional Council,
  Council of State (Judicial)
  
• Currency is Euro, 2002

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• Richest country in the world, but has a great
  instability (Until the fifth Republic set up by
  Charles de Gaulle in 1958, created a
  presidential-parliamentary form of Government))
• Political unrest is more deeply embedded in the
  culture of the country, in its history, and in
  many of its structures, especially the
  administrative structure
• Traditional authoritarianism vs. liberal
  democracy
  
• France is the first continental country to adapt
  constitutionalism and liberalism
  
• In terms of nationalismCultural pride helps to
  explain the peculiar relationship between France
  and Soviet Union. France always wanted to be
  independent of the United States and wanted the
  Western nations to be more independent.

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The Revolution of 1789

• Great effort was made to destroy the political
  privileges of the titled and aristocratic
  classes.
  
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
  detailed the expectations of French Citizens to
  be given basic freedoms and to be granted justice
  on the basis of the law
• French Revolution also threatened anciens regimes
  in much of the rest of Europe
  
• Routed the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the
  privileged Roman Catholic Church in the name of
  liberty, equality, and the republican form of
  Government

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French Republicanism and Its Elements

• The expression of the public will through a
  sovereign and directly elected assembly
  
• A society free from the institutionalized
  influence of the Church, distrust of executive
  authority as a threat to freedom, against which
  the people had an obligation to rise when and if
  any tyranny appeared imminent

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Interruption of Republic

• It was interrupted by Petain between 1940 to
  1944.
  
• Marshall Philippe Petains authority derived from
  the German victory over France, not from the will
  of the French People.
  
• It is also called Vichy Regime or Vichy France
  since it was a Nazi puppet regime in France
  during World War II.
  
• Vichy Regime symbolized what was anti-republican
  in French life
  
• The resistance was organized under the leadership
  of Charles De Gaulle
  

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The Characteristics of Social Order

• French population has peasant origins (The
  agricultural sector of France is important, both
  economically and politically)
  
• France is geographically and linguistically
  divided
  
• The class system and particularly the division
  between bourgeois and worker has long affected
  lifestyles
  
• France is traditionally Roman Catholic, but also
  was fiercely anticlerical in the nineteenth and
  early twentieth centuries ???

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• The attempt to restore the monarchy in the 1870s
  was viewed partly as an effort of the
  ChurchTherefore, Anticlericalism spread among
  supporters of the Republic
• Religion has led to major social and political
  problems in French history.
  
• In 1905, partly in response to the Dreyfus Case,
  Parliament passed a law separating church and
  state!!!

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Interest Groups

• The target of group attacks is often the state,
  and the typical approach is still to ask the
  state to meet the demands or to force private
  employers to make concessions
• Trade Unions, Business Org., Farmers
  Organizations, Other Groups
  
• The primary source of Political Information in
  France is television

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Trade Unions (Workers Unions, Other Unions)

• The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT),
• The Confederation Francaise des Travailleurs
  Chretiens(CFTC)
  
• The Confederation Francaise Democratique (CFDT)

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• The fifth Republic began in 1958 with an
  anti-interest-group bias.
  
• Accumulation of grievances exploded in May and
  June 1968
  
• Since then, leaders of the Fifth Republic have
  been more cautious and have developed
  CONSULTATION as a means of addressing grievances
  
• The Government sees group protest as a valid
  expression of interest

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PARTIES

• Gaullists and Socialists
• The Right and Center
• The Extreme Right (attacks against immigrants)
• The Left (Socialist Party, The Greens and
  Communist Parties)
  

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• The Constitution of 1958 was introduced to
  strength the executive
  
• De Gaulle was convinced that chronic instability
  was one of the major causes of the decline of
  France
  
• He based his cure on constitutional remedies
• He proposed neither a revamped cabinet system nor
  a presidential system, but plumped for a hybrid
  system giving marked preponderance to the
  executive
• Hybrid System divides executive authority into
  two sharply distinct segments
  
• The president has the somewhat lofty and almost
  undefinable task of looking after the long-term
  interests of the nation the Government headed by
  the prime minister, is in charge of the countrys
  affairs
• This raises two main problems first, there is a
  large gray area of divided responsibility.
  Because the constitution does not define sectors
  for the president and the prime minister, clashes
  between the two are likely. Second, while the
  president appoints the prime minister, the prime
  minister needs the support of the legislature.
  There is, therefore, potential for conflict when
  the parliament and the presidency are controlled
  by different parties.

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President

• President of Republic is elected for seven years,
  but a constitutional amendment passed in 2000
  reduced the term to five years
  
• Appointment of the prime minister and of the
  ministers on the proposal of the prime minister
  
• Promulgation of laws voted by parliament
  (President may ask parliament to reconsider a law
  within two weeks of its having been voted, but he
  has no power of veto)
• Signature of regulations (decrees), but these
  must have been approved by the council of
  ministers
  
• Chairmanship of the council of ministers
• Chairmanship of the high councils of the armed
  forces
  
• The right to send messages to the National
  Assembly
  
• Ratification of treaties, after parliamentary
  approval
  
• The power of pardon
• Dissolves Parliament
• Assumes emergency powers under article 16
• Decides whether or not to submit a bill to
  popular referendum when the Parliament or the
  Prime minister suggest it

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Prime Minister

• Premier (Prime Minister) leads the Government
• Has the power to implement the laws
• Responsible for national defense
• Makes a number of important appointments (He
  alone was designated by the chamber he alone
  appointed the rest of the cabinet)

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The Semi-presidential Character of the Fifth
Republic

• Political system of Fifth Republic is
  half-presidential
  
• The president remains an arbiter rather than an
  actor
  
• Under de Gaulle and Pompidou, Prime ministers and
  individual ministers initiated policies with the
  president of the Republic being seemingly neutral
  (Social and economic problems)
• Cohabitation 1986 general election brought about
  for the first time a parliamentary majority
  different from that of the presidents party
  (Divided Government)
• Example 1986-2002, cohabitation (president and
  Government being from opposite political blocs)
  occurred during 9 years out of 16. (1986-1988,
  1993-1995, 1997-2002)

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Parliamentary Organization

• Parliament is composed of two chambers, the
  National Assembly and Senate
  
• The National Assembly is elected for five years
• The Senate is elected for nine years
• The bicameral legislature consists of a National
  Assembly of 577 members, elected for five years
  by all citizens over 18, and a Senate of 331
  members selected by an electoral college of
  150,000 municipal council representatives, and
  departmental and regional councilors.

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Legislation

• A bill debated in the French Parliament goes
  through different steps
  
• After having been laid on the table of either
  chamber by a member of that chamber or by the
  government, the bill is sent to a committee which
  then reports to the house
• The house discusses the bill first in general,
  then clause by clause, and votes on each clause
  
• A final vote is then taken, at which point the
  bill goes to the other house, which follows the
  same procedure
  
• If both houses agree on the same text, the bill
  is sent to the president for promulgation

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Constitutional Council

• It includes nine members appointed in equal
  numbers by the president of the Republic and the
  speakers of the two chambers
  
• It also includes the ex-presidents of the
  Republic
  
• The council was set up in 1958 principally as a
  means of ensuring that parliament did not
  over-step its powers it thus has to approve the
  standing orders of both houses
• It was entitled to assess whether laws were in
  conformity with the constitution, then it became
  gradually a supreme court
  
• It became more independent and started to rule
  that bills or parts of bills were not in
  conformity with the constitution
  

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France and EU

• Mitterrand (4th president of 5th republic) was
  markedly more realistic than his predecessors
  about the need for France to concentrate on
  European affairs (because of the economic
  difficulties, social problems unemployment)
• Jacques Delors was the architect of the single
  market policy and, indirectly, of the Economic
  and Monetary Union, which led to the adoption of
  the single European Currency
• French commitment to Europe remains somewhat
  ambiguous
  
• While Joschka Fischer, the Green German foreign
  minister under Schroder, stressed the need to
  move toward a federal system, Jospin, the
  Socialist French minister, repeated that the
  Union had to be a Union of Nations

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• Issues in France include unemployment, crime and
  urban violence, the consequences of being a
  member of the European Union (EU), and political
  corruption.
• Since the new immigration of other groups to
  France, Frances second religion is now Islam,
  with approximately 4.5 million followers.
  
• The French also make use of national referendums
  to decide certain questions in the Fifth Republic
  
  

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Bibliography

• Michael J. Sodaro, Comparative Politics, A Global
  Introduction, Second Edition
  
• Michael Curtis , Western European Government
  and Politics, Second Edition
  
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France