France
Content
France (2010)
Capital: Paris Population: 62,621,000
Political Rights Score: 1 Civil Liberties Score: 1 Status: Free
Overview
Several commissions reviewed a range of issues in France in 2009, including those related to the judiciary, measuring the country's ethnic composition, the French administrative system, and the wearing of burqas. Meanwhile, a month-long general strike in Guadeloupe and Martinique led to a governmental increase in payments to low-wage workers.
After the French Revolution of 1789, republics alternated with monarchist regimes until the creation of the Third Republic in 1871. The Fourth Republic was established after World War II, but it eventually fell victim to domestic political turbulence and a series of colonial setbacks. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle, France¶s wartime leader, returned to create the strong presidential system of the Fifth Republic, which stands today. Jacques Chirac, a right-leaning Gaullist, was first elected president in 1995. In the 2002 presidential election, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the head of the far-right, xenophobic National Front, stunned France and the world by receiving more votes than Lionel Jospin, the prime minister and head of the rival center-left Socialist Party (PS), in the first round. Chirac, with Socialist support, defeated Le Pen overwhelmingly in the second round. Support for the National Front has since declined but continues to impact politics in the form of certain law-and-order policies. In early 2003, France joined Russia in blocking UN Security Council authorization for the U.S.led invasion of Iraq. France¶s stance severely strained its relations with the United States, but
bolstered Chirac¶s popularity at home. After the invasion, Chirac moved to strengthen the European Union (EU) as a counterweight to U.S. power. A strong EU foreign policy was a key French goal in the drafting of a new EU constitutional accord. However, French voters rejected the proposed constitution in a 2005 referendum. Its successor, the Lisbon Treaty, which incorporated many of the key institutional changes of the failed constitution, was signed by the government in February 2008without a referendum. In April 2009,France rejoined NATO¶s integrated military command, from which de Gaulle had withdrawn in 1966 because he believed it constrained French sovereignty. In late 2005, the accidental deaths of two teenagers of North African descent who were fleeing police touched off weeks of violent riots. Most of the rioters were youths descended from immigrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their French birth and citizenship, many reported discrimination and harassment by police in recent anticrime operations. The violence provoked a major discussion about the failure to fully integrate minorities into French society. The ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) nominated party leader Nicolas Sarkozy as its candidate for the 2007 presidential elections. Sarkozy had suffered a drop in popularity as interior minister following the 2005 riots, as he was associated with harsh policing tactics. Sarkozy¶s law-and-order message, pro-American foreign-policy views, opposition to Turkish EU membership, and other positions made him a controversial candidate. The PS nominated Segolene Royal, the first woman to be chosen by a major political party. Sarkozy won the May election in the second round, with 53 percent of the vote, and the UMP renewed its majority in subsequent parliamentary elections. Sarkozy appointed a popular Socialist, Bernard Kouchner, as foreign minister, and a North African±descended Muslim woman, Rachida Dati, as justice minister. Dati, who had always been a controversial figure, stepped down when she was elected to the European Parliament in June 2009. The government¶s popularity declined in late 2007 when riots erupted after two teenagers of African descent were killed in a collision with a police car. Unlike in 2005, the riots were better organized, and scores of police were wounded. By May 2008, the president¶s popularity was the lowest of any first-year president in 50 years. While Sarkozy¶s reputation recovered somewhat with a revived foreign and domestic agenda, including economic liberalization, his popularity again declined with the global financial crisis, when Sarkozy began vocally criticizing laissezfaire capitalism. The economic downturn has caused an increase in already high unemployment and incited many protests in 2009, including some militant demonstrations.The UMP won European Parliament elections in June despite Sarkozy¶s continuing unpopularity. Sarkozy in 2009 proposed a plan to improve administrative efficiency by redrawing local and regional administrative boundaries. Socialists have criticized the plan, alleging that the reforms aim to reduce their influence in regions where they dominate. The proposals were still under review at year¶s end.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
France is an electoral democracy. The president and members of the key house of Parliament, the 577-seat National Assembly, are elected to five-year terms; the upper house, the 321-seat Senate, is an indirectly elected body. The prime minister must be able to command a majority in Parliament. Until 1986, the president and prime minister were always of the same party, and the president was the most powerful figure in the country. However, since 1986, there have been periods lasting several years (such as 1997±2002) in which the president and prime minister belonged to rival parties. In such circumstances, the prime minister has the dominant role in domestic affairs, while the president largely guides foreign policy.
Parties organize and compete on a free and fair basis. The center-left PS and the center-right UMP are the largest parties, but others with significant support range from the largely unreformed French Communist Party on the left to the anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front on the right. France remains a relatively unitary state, with some political and administrative powers devolved to regions, departments, towns, and cities, but with key decisions made in Paris. Members of the French elite, trained in a small number of prestigious schools, often move between politics and business, increasing opportunities for corruption. President Jacques Chirac used his immunity as head of state a number of times to avoid prosecution on corruption allegations stemming from his time as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. However,formal corruption charges were brought against the former president in 2009 though no trial had begun by year¶s end. In October 2009, Chirac¶s interior minister, Charles Pasqua, was sentenced to a year in prison for involvement in arms trafficking to the Angolan government in the 1990s. France was ranked 24 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International¶s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index. The media operate freely and represent a wide range of political opinion. Though an 1881 law forbids ³offending´ various personages, including the president and foreign heads of state, the press remains lively and critical. However, journalists covering events involving the National Front or the Corsican separatist movement have been harassed and have come under legal pressure to reveal sources. Journalists generally face difficulty covering unrest in the volatile suburbs, including several injuries during the 2005 and 2007 riots. An intern for Le Monde was arrested in July 2009 and held overnight for covering demonstrations against police violence in Montreuil, even after he had identified himself as a journalist to authorities. Journalists have been pressured by courts to reveal sources when they report on criminal cases and when they publish material from confidential court documents. In March 2009, the government raided the offices of a TV production company in search of the incriminating footage of an interview with a top Martinique businessman, although nothing was taken. While internet access is generally unrestricted, a controversial law passed by the National Assembly in September and approved by the Constitutional Court in October sanctions users who are found illegally downloading music and films. Under the new law, three warnings will be issued before internet access is disconnected, with suspensions lasting up to a year. Repeat offenders could face heavy fines of up to $43,900 or two years in prison. Freedom of religion is protected by the constitution, and strong antidefamation laws prohibit religiously motivated attacks. Denial of the Nazi Holocaust is illegal. France maintains the policy of laicite, whereby religion and government affairs are strictly separated.A 2004 law bans ³ostentatious´ religious symbols in schools. While widely believed to be aimed at the hijab²a headscarf worn by some Muslim women and girls²the controversial ban was supported by most voters, including many Muslims. In 2008, a woman was denied citizenship for wearing the burqa, which covers the entire body, and thus failing to assimilate. A commission to investigate the wearing of burqas in France is due to publish its report in early 2010, although reportedly less than 400 women²mostly French converts²wear them. Academic freedom is generally respected by French authorities. Freedoms of assembly and association are respected. Civic organizations and nongovernmental organizations can operate freely. Trade union organizations are weak, and membership has declined over the past two decades. Nevertheless, civil service unions remain relatively strong, and strike movements generally gain wide public support. France has an independent judiciary, and the rule of law is firmly established. Citizens are generally treated equally.However, the country¶s antiterrorism campaign has included
surveillance of mosques, and unrelated government raids, such as those involving tax violations, have appeared to target businesses owned or frequented by Muslims, like halal butcher shops.Terrorism suspects can be detained for up to four days without being charged. Amnesty International accused French authorities in April 2009 of failing to investigate alleged police abuse, which the group claimed typically targets ethnic minorities. France has some of the most overcrowded prisons in Europe and suicides are common, prompting a new penitentiary law in 2009 that includes alternatives to prison, such as parole and electronic bracelets. In August a committee on penal reform controversially recommended theabolition ofthe investigative judge, a post that has been responsible for many corruption and other high-level investigations of French officials. French law forbids the categorization of people according to ethnic origin, and no statistics are collected on ethnicity. However, the violence of 2005and 2007 fueled concerns about Arab and African immigration and the failure of integration policies in France, where minorities are woefully underrepresented in leadership positions in both the private and public sectors. From 2007 to 2009, Rachida Dati served as the first Muslim justice minister and the first person of non-European descent to become a top minister in the French cabinet under the Fifth Republic. In 2007, legislation was passed that would have permitted the collection of certain kinds of ethnic data, though the Constitutional Council ruled that the law was unconstitutional. In anticipation of 2010 regional elections, the government initiated a ³debate´ on national identity in the fall of 2009, which quickly evolved into a political discussion of Islam and diversity by year¶s end. In September 2009, authorities evicted hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers living in makeshift encampments near Calais, detaining many and bulldozing the camps. Corsica continues to host a sometimes violent separatist movement, and low-level attacks against property and government targets are frequent, though people are rarely harmed. In 2001, the government devolved some legislative powers to the island and allowed teaching in the Corsican language in public schools. In August 2009, the car of Enrico Porsia, an Italian investigative reporter for the Amnistia news website, was bombed in Corsica, but no injuries were reported. In early 2009, major protests broke out in Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French overseas departments equal in status to those in mainland France. A month-long general strike began over the cost of living but also reflected tensions between the black majority and the ruling whites. French riot police were sent in and ultimately reached a deal whereby the government agreed to increase payments to low-wage workers. Gender equality is protected in France. Constitutional reforms in 2008 institutionalized economic and social equality, though women still earn approximately 25 percent less than men with similar qualifications. Some electoral lists require the alternation of candidates by sex. In 2007, women won 18.5 percent of the seats in the legislature (up from 16.9 percent in 2002). Women have served as key ministers, as well as prime minister. The rights of homosexuals are protected in France, and a type of nonmarriage civil union, the PACS, or civil solidarity pact, is recognized.
ce (2002)
Polity: Presidentialparliamentary democracy Population: 59,200,000 GNI/Capita: $22,897 Life Expectancy: 79 Religious Groups: na Ethnic Groups: French, regional minorites (Corsican, Alsatian, Basque, Breton), various Arab and African Capital: Paris
Political Rights Score: 1 Civil Liberties Score: 2 Status: Free
Overview
Allegations of corruption continued to taint the French political establishment in 2001. Among several cases of reported impropriety, new evidence emerged implicating President Jacques Chirac in an alleged kickback scandal while he served as Paris mayor. A high court ruled against a magistrate's request to have President Chirac testify in the case, thereby preventing possible impeachment proceedings. France's rightwing parties registered significant gains in municipal elections in March. More powers were devolved to Corsica, granting greater autonomy to the separatist-leaning French island. New security laws came into effect in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, granting police sweeping new search and seizure powers. French-British relations suffered a setback as increasing numbers of illegal immigrants sought entry into Great Britain through the Channel Tunnel. Disabled people earned the right to sue doctors over having been born.
After World War II, France established a parliamentary Fourth Republic, which was governed by coalitions and ultimately failed because of the Algerian war. The Fifth Republic began in 1958 under Prime Minister (and later President) Charles de Gaulle. Election of the president by popular suffrage began in 1965. In 1992, French citizens narrowly approved European political and economic union under the Maastricht Treaty. Prime Minister Jospin, of the Partie Socialiste (Socialist Party), entered a government of "cohabitation" with President Chirac, a conservative, after winning an upset election in 1997. In October 2000, French voters went to the polls approving a referendum to cut short the presidential term from seven years to five, marking the most radical change to the French constitution in 40 years. The shorter term now puts parliamentary and presidential elections on the same schedule, reducing or potentially eliminating the awkward cohabitation arrangement, which often features a president and a prime minister from different parties, often at odds over official policy. Municipal elections held in March saw significant right-wing inroads in many towns and cities, while a left-leaning government remained in Paris. A mounting corruption scandal dogged President Chirac throughout the year, albeit not at the expense of his popularity. In June, the National Assembly debated a bill that would have stripped Chirac of his presidential immunity after new evidence arose implicating him in an alleged kickback scandal. A judicial probe preceded the National Assembly debate examining why Chirac paid cash for twenty personal foreign trips, made while mayor of Paris in the mid-1980s. Speculation abounded that the cash was drawn from a substantial slush fund setup to funnel bribes from public works contracts. While Chirac admitted to paying cash for the trips for him and his family, he maintained he did so for security reasons. The fund, he explained, was legal, and not part of a vast bribery system in which illegal commissions were channeled to his RPR party. Chirac steadfastly refused to testify before a magistrate, citing presidential immunity. In October, France's highest appeals court ruled the president remained immune from questioning while in office.
In November, in what was seen as a calculated political counterpoint to Chirac's refusal to face authorities, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin offered to appear as a witness in a separate illicit funding case. Evidence emerged that his Socialist Party allegedly received illegal funding from supermarket chains ten years ago. France was rocked by other corruption scandals throughout the year, including an illegal arms trafficking scandal involving Jean-Christophe Mitterand, the son of the late president, Francois Mitterand. Another involved the formerly state-run Elf oil company, from which government appointees allegedly siphoned more than $250 million. In May, former foreign minister Roland Dumas received a six-month jail sentence in the case. He had illegally benefited from a $9 million-a-year job he had arranged for his mistress with the giant oil concern. In October, Transparency International ranked France 23rd on its corruption index, far behind most northern European countries. Toward the end of the year, the government moved to abolish the secret cash funds available to government ministers to use at their discretion.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
French citizens can change their government democratically by directly electing the president and national assembly. The constitution grants the president significant emergency powers, including rule by decree under certain circumstances. The president may call referenda and dissolve parliament, but may not veto its acts or routinely issue decrees. Decentralization has given mayors significant power over housing, transportation, schools, culture, welfare, and law enforcement. The judiciary is independent. Municipal elections held in March were conducted under new parity legislation. Towns with more than 3,000 people must now present candidate lists with equal numbers of men and women. A 1999 law sets maximum limits on detention of suspects during a criminal investigation. Also included in the bill was the formation of "detention judges" to rule on the justification of incarceration. Additionally, those being held for interrogation must have immediate access to an attorney. However, public security laws allow police far-reaching powers to tap telephones, carry out searches, and jail terror suspects without trial for up to four years. In October, following the terrorist attacks on the United States, French police arrested nine people with reported links to the Al-Qaeda terror network on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in France. In November, Parliament adopted new anti-terror legislation. Police are now able to search cars with the authorization of a prosecutor, a right previously prohibited. Police can also search private property without warrants. They also have greater access to private telephone conversations and e-mail. Judges can now demand that phone and Internet companies save messages for up to one year. teaching of the Corsican language. In December, the French Parliament approved an autonomy bill, which granted Corsica's regional assembly the right to amend some national legislation. The bill also permitted using the Corsican language in the curriculum of all schools. Implementation of the second phase, to take place throughout 2003 and 2004, is dependent on the success of the first phase and the total absence of violence, and would necessitate reform of the French constitution. Despite open suspicion toward Muslims and prohibitions against wearing religious garb or symbols in state schools, religious freedom is protected. In June, Parliament adopted a bill allowing courts to ban groups considered sects.
Labor rights in France are respected in practice, and strikes are widely and effectively used to protest government economic policy. The government acted to further entrench the shortened workweek during the year, originally adopted in October 1999. Women enjoy equal rights in France. A dramatic December ruling in France's highest appeals court granted children with Down syndrome the legal right to have never been born. Doctors are subject to lawsuits if they do not sufficiently inform mothers of prenatal warning signs, thus denying them the opportunity to have an abortion.
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Rankings in Freedom in the World 2010: 1 Political Rights, 1 Civil Liberties (Free) Summary France is Western Europe's largest country by area and the 48th largest in the world, excluding its overseas territories. It has a population of about 61 million people, ranking 21st in the world. By economic measurements, France is among the world's most successful countries. With a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.231 trillion, it had the world's sixth-largest and Europe's third-largest economy (after Germany and Britain) in 2006. By purchasing power parity (PPP), which accounts for local price differences to get a more accurate picture of living standards, France's GDP ranked seventh in the world in 2006, at $1.942 trillion. Nominal gross national income (GNI) per capita was 22nd in the world ($36,550), and PPP GNI was 23rd ($32,130). France is a republic with a mixed presidentialparliamentary system of government. As with many countries, it has a history filled with division, intolerance, absolutism, and empire. But France also has a strong tradition of republicanism, popular revolution, human rights, and resistance to Nazi occupation. The seminal event in its modern history was the Revolution of 1789, which toppled the absolute monarchy and ushered in the country's first republican government. Today, France's democracy is among the world's strongest. Its powerful presidency is unusual for Europe, where the parliamentary system is more common, but its constitutional limits are clearly established. The National Assembly has decisive powers to approve or censure the government and pass laws and budgets, and the system is further protected by two constitutional France courts, independent news media, and a vibrant intellectual class that exercises its rights of speech, conscience, and thought without hindrance. History
The area that later became France was conquered in the first century BC by the Romans, who knew it as Gaul. After the collapse of the Roman Empire five centuries later, the territory formed part of the larger Frankish kingdom established by Clovis I. However, the realm was repeatedly divided by feuding princes and Viking raids, and it eventually became a patchwork of estates ruled by powerful noblemen. France emerged as a distinct political unit only in the late 10th century, when kings based in the Paris area began to assert royal authority over the surrounding lands. Over the subsequent centuries, the French kings also had to contend with the rulers of England, who claimed sovereignty over large parts of the country. But by the reign of Francis I (1515±47) of the Valois dynasty, the royal government had extended its control almost to the borders of modern France. Wars of Religion The rise of Protestantism among the French nobility and townsmen, combined with opposition to growing royal authority in many parts of the country, helped to plunge France into a series of bloody civil conflicts beginning in 1562. During this time, the minority who converted to Protestantism (known as Huguenots) were subject to repression and massacres. Henry IV, the first king of the Bourbon dynasty, was himself a Protestant. He defended his succession to the throne, winning military victories over his Catholic enemies, but converted to Catholicism to gain the acceptance of his overwhelmingly Catholic subjects. To prevent further unrest, he issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, providing Protestants with freedom of worship and civil equality (see also "Freedom of Religion"). Renunciation of the Edict of Nantes Henry's son and successor, Louis XIII (1610±43), together with his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, undermined the Edict of Nantes through restrictive interpretation and brutally suppressed the Huguenot rebellion of 1625±29. France nevertheless intervened on the Protestant side during the last part of the Thirty Years War (1618±48) due to its rivalry with Spain and Austria. In doing so, it gained a number of neighboring German territories. France agreed to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which confirmed the right of states to determine their own religion and the more general principle of state sovereignty. For France's next king, Louis XIV (1643± 1715), this meant further repression of Protestant worship and the full revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Many Protestants, if they did not convert to Catholicism, left the country. France today remains predominantly Catholic. The Absolutist State Louis XIV is also known for centralizing the state and economy through his principal financial minister, Jean Baptiste Colbert. Appointed in 1665, Colbert introduced a more efficient system of public accounts and debt management, and offered state support to invigorate maritime trade and domestic industries. Through his combination of state direction of the economy and promotion of trade, Colbert is considered a father of mercantilism, which emphasized the national accumulation of gold and silver through increased exports and internal self-sufficiency (see "Economic Freedom).
Painting of "Combat Quiberon 1795" by Jean Sorieul, illustrating a Battle during the French Revolution
Over the course of the 18th century, attempts at reform were hampered or undone by costly foreign wars and lingering feudal institutions. The government was plagued by fiscal crises even when the wider economy was performing well, and extensive aristocratic privileges frustrated both royal officials and society at large. At the same time, the philosophical Enlightenment of the era spread new ideas among French intellectuals, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who promoted ideas of popular sovereignty and equality. Most important, Enlightenment thinkers drew attention to the irrationality and cruelty of the existing French system. The Revolution In 1789, financial difficulties forced King Louis XVI to call a gathering of representatives of the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners, known collectively as the Estates-General. In June, the "third estate" rejected the authority of nobles and clerics, declared itself a National Assembly, and sought to impose a constitution on the king. After the monarch began to resist this action, the citizens of Paris revolted on July 14 and stormed the Bastille, a major prison and armory. Their uprising quickly took the form of a national revolution. The National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which went further even than the American Declaration of Independence or Constitution in asserting citizens' democratic rights. Despite the document's republican rhetoric and the people's repudiation of royalty, most delegates of the Assembly still hoped to maintain a constitutional monarchy. However, the Revolution grew more radical after Louis The constitution establishes the attempted to flee the country and a devastating war began rights and freedoms of the citizenry with Austria and other royalist European powers. In and proclaims the people s 1792, the monarchy was abolished by a new National "attachment" to the 1789 Declaration Convention, elected by universal male suffrage. The king of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. was beheaded the following year, and the most extreme factions, led by the Jacobins, established a dictatorship ruled by a group of revolutionary committees. The period from 1793 to 1794, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, is known as the Reign of Terror. Citing the ideas of Rousseau and other Enlightenment thinkers, Robespierre and his allies insisted that their actions were necessary to save the Revolution from its internal and foreign enemies. Thousands of people²the royal family, nobles, bourgeoisie, intellectuals, peasants, and workers²were arrested, sentenced to death by obedient courts, and executed by guillotine. Foreshadowing similar actions by 20thcentury totalitarian regimes, the radical government adopted a new revolutionary calendar, with the first year set to mark the founding of the republic. The Thermidorian Reaction and the Rise of Napoleon The National Convention finally deposed Robespierre and turned against the extremes of the Terror in what became known as the Thermidorian reaction, named for the month in the revolutionary calendar in which it occurred. A new constitution was adopted, creating a bicameral legislature and a five-member executive Directory. However, the ideologically moderate regime was buffeted by opponents on the left and right, and it was dependent on the support of the increasingly powerful military. Napoleon Bonaparte, an army general, took power in a coup in 1799, becoming "first consul" of the republic. He proclaimed himself emperor in 1804 and engaged in years of warfare with the European monarchies before his final defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon's legacy was long-lasting. He transformed France by introducing a uniform legal code and system of bureaucracy, and spread the core ideas of the Revolution across Europe through his military conquests.
A Tumultuous 19th Century and the Founding of the Third Republic
The Bourbon dynasty was restored in 1815, although this time with a constitution and elected legislature. When the king attempted to reassert elements of absolutism, a revolt led by the upper middle class placed Louis Philippe, the duc d'Orleans, on the throne in 1830. The electorate remained limited under the new monarchy, and increasingly entrenched. disenfranchised groups rose up in 1848 to establish the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the former emperor's nephew, won election as president of the new republic later that year. He staged a coup as his single term in office drew to a close, and in 1852 a plebiscite confirmed him as Emperor Napoleon III. In the course of France's crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870±71), the emperor was deposed and a Third Republic was proclaimed. A leftist Paris Commune²in the tradition of the radical Paris Commune that arose following the 1789 Revolution²was organized to oppose both the Prussians and the relatively conservative new regime, but it was defeated by government forces in 1871. The Third Republic went on to become the longest-lasting constitutional system in France's history. While monarchist elements continued to play an influential role in national affairs for many years, the economic, social, and political transformation wrought by the Revolution and its aftermath grew increasingly entrenched. Vichy: A Shameful Era The Third Republic survived World War I (1914±18) but quickly collapsed in the face of a Nazi German invasion in 1940. Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the republic's last prime minister, agreed to an armistice that allowed German forces to occupy and administer much of the country, including Paris. Meanwhile, the constitution was suspended and Petain became the leader of a Fascist puppet regime based in Vichy, in central France. In 1942, the Germans occupied the whole country. But for the rest of World War II, the Vichy government cooperated fully with the Germans, hunting down and executing resistance fighters, contributing French labor and resources to the German war effort, and helping to round up tens of thousands of Jews for deportation and mass murder. During the war, many French took part in the resistance movement against German occupation, engaging in spying, sabotage, and guerrilla fighting. General Charles de Gaulle escaped to London and helped establish a Free French army and government in exile. But large numbers of businessmen, civil service workers, and police collaborated with the occupiers. The Vichy regime came to an end after the successful Allied invasion of France in June 1944. A provisional government headed by de Gaulle gave way in 1946 to the Fourth Republic, which was similar in constitutional structure to the Third. The Communist Party, which had been active in the wartime resistance, gained prominence immediately after the war, raising fears that France would align itself with the Soviet Union. However, American aid through the Marshall Plan and France's other political parties helped to rebuild the country on a democratic footing. France later emerged as one of Europe's strongest economies and a leading force in the creation of the European Union (EU). French Colonialism France had been an active participant in the European race to build colonial empires around the world. Although it lost its North American possessions at the end of the French and Indian War
While monarchist elements continued to play an influential role in national affairs for many years, the economic, social, and political transformation wrought by the Revolution and its aftermath grew
(also known as the Seven Years War) in 1763, it retained a number of Caribbean islands and French Guiana. Napoleon I briefly regained a section of North America from Spain, but sold it to the United States in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Over the course of the 19th century, France extended its control over parts of Southeast Asia, North and West Africa, and islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It also joined Great Britain in dividing the Middle East after World War I, taking responsibility for Syria and Lebanon in a last bid at imperial expansion. However, in the decades following World War II, all European countries came under pressure to dismantle their colonial empires and leave independent states in their place. Under the Fourth Republic, France's overseas empire was reorganized as the French Union, which ostensibly granted more equity and autonomy to the colonies. Nevertheless, Vietnamese forces compelled the French to withdraw from Southeast Asia in 1954, and many other countries gained independence over the next decade. The most consequential anticolonial struggle for France was that of Algeria, where many French colonists had settled since the first French invasion in 1830. Years of brutal violence and political turmoil²in which the French government contended with both Algerian nationalists and, toward the end, militant colonists and army factions²finally resulted in independence in 1962, but only after a constitutional overhaul in France itself. Meanwhile, a number of former colonies, mainly small island territories, have remained part of France as overseas departements (French administrative regions), and the country retains close relations with most of its former empire in a community not unlike the British Commonwealth. Constitutional Limits The Fourth Republic, established immediately after World War II, had restored many of the Third Republic's characteristics, including a constitutionally strong but politically divided Parliament and a relatively weak executive. As the Algerian crisis came to a head and right-wing elements threatened to rebel, Charles de Gaulle was recalled from retirement in 1958 and set about establishing a Fifth Republic that included his vision of a strong presidency. The new constitution was approved by public referendum in September 1958 and amended in 1962. The Fifth Republic: A Semi-Presidential System Today, France is a republic with a mixed presidential-parliamentary system of government, also known as a semi-presidential system. The president, the head of state, is elected directly to a five-year term (until 2002 it was seven years), with the possibility of reelection. He or she appoints the prime minister and cabinet, sets overall government policy, and plays an especially prominent role in national security and foreign policy, with formal command of the armed forces and responsibility for concluding treaties. The president can dissolve Parliament before the end of its term and may rule by decree in emergency situations. The prime minister and other ministers handle the implementation of government policy, making more detailed, day-to-day decisions. The Parliament's Role Parliament, which is bicameral, meets for a nine-month session each year, although the president may call an emergency session in the three-month interim period. The lower house, the National Assembly, has 577 deputies directly elected to five-year terms and is the principal legislative body. All seats are open in a general election. In addition to approving budgets and laws, it has the power to bring down a prime minister and cabinet through a vote of censure. Therefore, the government must retain the approval of a majority of the Assembly.
Members of the upper house, the Senate, are chosen by an electoral college made up of the elected officials from their respective departments or territories. Twelve senators represent French nationals living abroad. Senators (who numbered 331 as of 2007) serve for six years, with one-half of the seats up for election every three years. The Senate can offer amendments to bills and initiate some forms of legislation, but the more powerful National Assembly can overrule it in any disagreement. Since Parliament and the president are elected separately, they sometimes represent different parties, as in the United States. However, in France such cases of divided government are called cohabitation, since the president must work²within the executive branch²with a prime minister and cabinet members from a rival party. Since 1980, there have been periods of cohabitation pairing a Socialist president (Francois Mitterrand) with a majority conservative National Assembly, and a conservative president (Jacques Chirac) with a Socialist majority in the Assembly. More often, the president has a unified government, with a cabinet and legislative majority from his own party. The Foundation of the Constitution The constitution establishes the rights and freedoms of the citizenry and proclaims the people's "attachment" to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Institutional safeguards include the Constitutional Council, which examines the constitutionality of legislation referred to it by Parliament, the prime minister, or the president before it is signed into law; and the Council of State, which hears constitutional questions or claims against the government brought by individual citizens. The constitution is less clear on the status of immigrants, an issue that has gained prominence in recent years. Roughly 10 percent of the population is foreignborn, and many others were born in France to immigrant parents. A series of urban riots in 2005 highlighted the problem of their rights, social status, and economic conditions. The strength of the constitution and the country's vigorous intellectual tradition are among the most important checks on governmental power in France. They foster and protect an independent media and a culture of commentary and criticism in which individuals fully exercise their rights of free inquiry, expression, thought, and conscience. France's media outlets often have political orientations but operate independently of any political party. Several of today's newspapers and magazines have their roots in the period of resistance to Nazi rule, during which independent journalists put out daily and weekly papers at great risk to their lives and liberty. Alliances France was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community (1952), which eventually grew into the European Union, and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO (1949). These institutions established strong treaty obligations, including commitments to uphold peace, human rights, and democracy. France withdrew from NATO's military command structure in 1966, but agreed to rejoin the alliance's Military Committee in 1995; it has since participated in joint NATO actions in the Balkans and Afghanistan. France has played a leading role in the European Union, especially in supporting steps toward greater economic, monetary, and political integration. In recent times, however, French presidents have resisted EU requirements to adopt specific budget changes and efforts to alter farm subsidies that benefit French agriculture. In 2005, French referendum voters rejected a proposed EU constitution due to perceived encroachments on sovereignty and other concerns. The vote was also seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with the French government, which supported the constitution plan. Conclusion
France, although it has adopted a system with a strong presidency, has constitutional limits including the legislature's powers to bring down a government; two judicial oversight bodies, the Constitutional Council and Council of State; substantial constitutional protections for civil and human rights; and treaty obligations under the EU and NATO. France also possesses vibrant independent media and an outspoken intellectual class.
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Capital: Paris Population: 62,621,000
Political Rights Score: 1 Civil Liberties Score: 1 Status: Free
Overview
Several commissions reviewed a range of issues in France in 2009, including those related to the judiciary, measuring the country's ethnic composition, the French administrative system, and the wearing of burqas. Meanwhile, a month-long general strike in Guadeloupe and Martinique led to a governmental increase in payments to low-wage workers.
After the French Revolution of 1789, republics alternated with monarchist regimes until the creation of the Third Republic in 1871. The Fourth Republic was established after World War II, but it eventually fell victim to domestic political turbulence and a series of colonial setbacks. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle, France¶s wartime leader, returned to create the strong presidential system of the Fifth Republic, which stands today. Jacques Chirac, a right-leaning Gaullist, was first elected president in 1995. In the 2002 presidential election, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the head of the far-right, xenophobic National Front, stunned France and the world by receiving more votes than Lionel Jospin, the prime minister and head of the rival center-left Socialist Party (PS), in the first round. Chirac, with Socialist support, defeated Le Pen overwhelmingly in the second round. Support for the National Front has since declined but continues to impact politics in the form of certain law-and-order policies. In early 2003, France joined Russia in blocking UN Security Council authorization for the U.S.led invasion of Iraq. France¶s stance severely strained its relations with the United States, but
bolstered Chirac¶s popularity at home. After the invasion, Chirac moved to strengthen the European Union (EU) as a counterweight to U.S. power. A strong EU foreign policy was a key French goal in the drafting of a new EU constitutional accord. However, French voters rejected the proposed constitution in a 2005 referendum. Its successor, the Lisbon Treaty, which incorporated many of the key institutional changes of the failed constitution, was signed by the government in February 2008without a referendum. In April 2009,France rejoined NATO¶s integrated military command, from which de Gaulle had withdrawn in 1966 because he believed it constrained French sovereignty. In late 2005, the accidental deaths of two teenagers of North African descent who were fleeing police touched off weeks of violent riots. Most of the rioters were youths descended from immigrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their French birth and citizenship, many reported discrimination and harassment by police in recent anticrime operations. The violence provoked a major discussion about the failure to fully integrate minorities into French society. The ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) nominated party leader Nicolas Sarkozy as its candidate for the 2007 presidential elections. Sarkozy had suffered a drop in popularity as interior minister following the 2005 riots, as he was associated with harsh policing tactics. Sarkozy¶s law-and-order message, pro-American foreign-policy views, opposition to Turkish EU membership, and other positions made him a controversial candidate. The PS nominated Segolene Royal, the first woman to be chosen by a major political party. Sarkozy won the May election in the second round, with 53 percent of the vote, and the UMP renewed its majority in subsequent parliamentary elections. Sarkozy appointed a popular Socialist, Bernard Kouchner, as foreign minister, and a North African±descended Muslim woman, Rachida Dati, as justice minister. Dati, who had always been a controversial figure, stepped down when she was elected to the European Parliament in June 2009. The government¶s popularity declined in late 2007 when riots erupted after two teenagers of African descent were killed in a collision with a police car. Unlike in 2005, the riots were better organized, and scores of police were wounded. By May 2008, the president¶s popularity was the lowest of any first-year president in 50 years. While Sarkozy¶s reputation recovered somewhat with a revived foreign and domestic agenda, including economic liberalization, his popularity again declined with the global financial crisis, when Sarkozy began vocally criticizing laissezfaire capitalism. The economic downturn has caused an increase in already high unemployment and incited many protests in 2009, including some militant demonstrations.The UMP won European Parliament elections in June despite Sarkozy¶s continuing unpopularity. Sarkozy in 2009 proposed a plan to improve administrative efficiency by redrawing local and regional administrative boundaries. Socialists have criticized the plan, alleging that the reforms aim to reduce their influence in regions where they dominate. The proposals were still under review at year¶s end.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
France is an electoral democracy. The president and members of the key house of Parliament, the 577-seat National Assembly, are elected to five-year terms; the upper house, the 321-seat Senate, is an indirectly elected body. The prime minister must be able to command a majority in Parliament. Until 1986, the president and prime minister were always of the same party, and the president was the most powerful figure in the country. However, since 1986, there have been periods lasting several years (such as 1997±2002) in which the president and prime minister belonged to rival parties. In such circumstances, the prime minister has the dominant role in domestic affairs, while the president largely guides foreign policy.
Parties organize and compete on a free and fair basis. The center-left PS and the center-right UMP are the largest parties, but others with significant support range from the largely unreformed French Communist Party on the left to the anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front on the right. France remains a relatively unitary state, with some political and administrative powers devolved to regions, departments, towns, and cities, but with key decisions made in Paris. Members of the French elite, trained in a small number of prestigious schools, often move between politics and business, increasing opportunities for corruption. President Jacques Chirac used his immunity as head of state a number of times to avoid prosecution on corruption allegations stemming from his time as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. However,formal corruption charges were brought against the former president in 2009 though no trial had begun by year¶s end. In October 2009, Chirac¶s interior minister, Charles Pasqua, was sentenced to a year in prison for involvement in arms trafficking to the Angolan government in the 1990s. France was ranked 24 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International¶s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index. The media operate freely and represent a wide range of political opinion. Though an 1881 law forbids ³offending´ various personages, including the president and foreign heads of state, the press remains lively and critical. However, journalists covering events involving the National Front or the Corsican separatist movement have been harassed and have come under legal pressure to reveal sources. Journalists generally face difficulty covering unrest in the volatile suburbs, including several injuries during the 2005 and 2007 riots. An intern for Le Monde was arrested in July 2009 and held overnight for covering demonstrations against police violence in Montreuil, even after he had identified himself as a journalist to authorities. Journalists have been pressured by courts to reveal sources when they report on criminal cases and when they publish material from confidential court documents. In March 2009, the government raided the offices of a TV production company in search of the incriminating footage of an interview with a top Martinique businessman, although nothing was taken. While internet access is generally unrestricted, a controversial law passed by the National Assembly in September and approved by the Constitutional Court in October sanctions users who are found illegally downloading music and films. Under the new law, three warnings will be issued before internet access is disconnected, with suspensions lasting up to a year. Repeat offenders could face heavy fines of up to $43,900 or two years in prison. Freedom of religion is protected by the constitution, and strong antidefamation laws prohibit religiously motivated attacks. Denial of the Nazi Holocaust is illegal. France maintains the policy of laicite, whereby religion and government affairs are strictly separated.A 2004 law bans ³ostentatious´ religious symbols in schools. While widely believed to be aimed at the hijab²a headscarf worn by some Muslim women and girls²the controversial ban was supported by most voters, including many Muslims. In 2008, a woman was denied citizenship for wearing the burqa, which covers the entire body, and thus failing to assimilate. A commission to investigate the wearing of burqas in France is due to publish its report in early 2010, although reportedly less than 400 women²mostly French converts²wear them. Academic freedom is generally respected by French authorities. Freedoms of assembly and association are respected. Civic organizations and nongovernmental organizations can operate freely. Trade union organizations are weak, and membership has declined over the past two decades. Nevertheless, civil service unions remain relatively strong, and strike movements generally gain wide public support. France has an independent judiciary, and the rule of law is firmly established. Citizens are generally treated equally.However, the country¶s antiterrorism campaign has included
surveillance of mosques, and unrelated government raids, such as those involving tax violations, have appeared to target businesses owned or frequented by Muslims, like halal butcher shops.Terrorism suspects can be detained for up to four days without being charged. Amnesty International accused French authorities in April 2009 of failing to investigate alleged police abuse, which the group claimed typically targets ethnic minorities. France has some of the most overcrowded prisons in Europe and suicides are common, prompting a new penitentiary law in 2009 that includes alternatives to prison, such as parole and electronic bracelets. In August a committee on penal reform controversially recommended theabolition ofthe investigative judge, a post that has been responsible for many corruption and other high-level investigations of French officials. French law forbids the categorization of people according to ethnic origin, and no statistics are collected on ethnicity. However, the violence of 2005and 2007 fueled concerns about Arab and African immigration and the failure of integration policies in France, where minorities are woefully underrepresented in leadership positions in both the private and public sectors. From 2007 to 2009, Rachida Dati served as the first Muslim justice minister and the first person of non-European descent to become a top minister in the French cabinet under the Fifth Republic. In 2007, legislation was passed that would have permitted the collection of certain kinds of ethnic data, though the Constitutional Council ruled that the law was unconstitutional. In anticipation of 2010 regional elections, the government initiated a ³debate´ on national identity in the fall of 2009, which quickly evolved into a political discussion of Islam and diversity by year¶s end. In September 2009, authorities evicted hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers living in makeshift encampments near Calais, detaining many and bulldozing the camps. Corsica continues to host a sometimes violent separatist movement, and low-level attacks against property and government targets are frequent, though people are rarely harmed. In 2001, the government devolved some legislative powers to the island and allowed teaching in the Corsican language in public schools. In August 2009, the car of Enrico Porsia, an Italian investigative reporter for the Amnistia news website, was bombed in Corsica, but no injuries were reported. In early 2009, major protests broke out in Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French overseas departments equal in status to those in mainland France. A month-long general strike began over the cost of living but also reflected tensions between the black majority and the ruling whites. French riot police were sent in and ultimately reached a deal whereby the government agreed to increase payments to low-wage workers. Gender equality is protected in France. Constitutional reforms in 2008 institutionalized economic and social equality, though women still earn approximately 25 percent less than men with similar qualifications. Some electoral lists require the alternation of candidates by sex. In 2007, women won 18.5 percent of the seats in the legislature (up from 16.9 percent in 2002). Women have served as key ministers, as well as prime minister. The rights of homosexuals are protected in France, and a type of nonmarriage civil union, the PACS, or civil solidarity pact, is recognized.
ce (2002)
Polity: Presidentialparliamentary democracy Population: 59,200,000 GNI/Capita: $22,897 Life Expectancy: 79 Religious Groups: na Ethnic Groups: French, regional minorites (Corsican, Alsatian, Basque, Breton), various Arab and African Capital: Paris
Political Rights Score: 1 Civil Liberties Score: 2 Status: Free
Overview
Allegations of corruption continued to taint the French political establishment in 2001. Among several cases of reported impropriety, new evidence emerged implicating President Jacques Chirac in an alleged kickback scandal while he served as Paris mayor. A high court ruled against a magistrate's request to have President Chirac testify in the case, thereby preventing possible impeachment proceedings. France's rightwing parties registered significant gains in municipal elections in March. More powers were devolved to Corsica, granting greater autonomy to the separatist-leaning French island. New security laws came into effect in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, granting police sweeping new search and seizure powers. French-British relations suffered a setback as increasing numbers of illegal immigrants sought entry into Great Britain through the Channel Tunnel. Disabled people earned the right to sue doctors over having been born.
After World War II, France established a parliamentary Fourth Republic, which was governed by coalitions and ultimately failed because of the Algerian war. The Fifth Republic began in 1958 under Prime Minister (and later President) Charles de Gaulle. Election of the president by popular suffrage began in 1965. In 1992, French citizens narrowly approved European political and economic union under the Maastricht Treaty. Prime Minister Jospin, of the Partie Socialiste (Socialist Party), entered a government of "cohabitation" with President Chirac, a conservative, after winning an upset election in 1997. In October 2000, French voters went to the polls approving a referendum to cut short the presidential term from seven years to five, marking the most radical change to the French constitution in 40 years. The shorter term now puts parliamentary and presidential elections on the same schedule, reducing or potentially eliminating the awkward cohabitation arrangement, which often features a president and a prime minister from different parties, often at odds over official policy. Municipal elections held in March saw significant right-wing inroads in many towns and cities, while a left-leaning government remained in Paris. A mounting corruption scandal dogged President Chirac throughout the year, albeit not at the expense of his popularity. In June, the National Assembly debated a bill that would have stripped Chirac of his presidential immunity after new evidence arose implicating him in an alleged kickback scandal. A judicial probe preceded the National Assembly debate examining why Chirac paid cash for twenty personal foreign trips, made while mayor of Paris in the mid-1980s. Speculation abounded that the cash was drawn from a substantial slush fund setup to funnel bribes from public works contracts. While Chirac admitted to paying cash for the trips for him and his family, he maintained he did so for security reasons. The fund, he explained, was legal, and not part of a vast bribery system in which illegal commissions were channeled to his RPR party. Chirac steadfastly refused to testify before a magistrate, citing presidential immunity. In October, France's highest appeals court ruled the president remained immune from questioning while in office.
In November, in what was seen as a calculated political counterpoint to Chirac's refusal to face authorities, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin offered to appear as a witness in a separate illicit funding case. Evidence emerged that his Socialist Party allegedly received illegal funding from supermarket chains ten years ago. France was rocked by other corruption scandals throughout the year, including an illegal arms trafficking scandal involving Jean-Christophe Mitterand, the son of the late president, Francois Mitterand. Another involved the formerly state-run Elf oil company, from which government appointees allegedly siphoned more than $250 million. In May, former foreign minister Roland Dumas received a six-month jail sentence in the case. He had illegally benefited from a $9 million-a-year job he had arranged for his mistress with the giant oil concern. In October, Transparency International ranked France 23rd on its corruption index, far behind most northern European countries. Toward the end of the year, the government moved to abolish the secret cash funds available to government ministers to use at their discretion.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
French citizens can change their government democratically by directly electing the president and national assembly. The constitution grants the president significant emergency powers, including rule by decree under certain circumstances. The president may call referenda and dissolve parliament, but may not veto its acts or routinely issue decrees. Decentralization has given mayors significant power over housing, transportation, schools, culture, welfare, and law enforcement. The judiciary is independent. Municipal elections held in March were conducted under new parity legislation. Towns with more than 3,000 people must now present candidate lists with equal numbers of men and women. A 1999 law sets maximum limits on detention of suspects during a criminal investigation. Also included in the bill was the formation of "detention judges" to rule on the justification of incarceration. Additionally, those being held for interrogation must have immediate access to an attorney. However, public security laws allow police far-reaching powers to tap telephones, carry out searches, and jail terror suspects without trial for up to four years. In October, following the terrorist attacks on the United States, French police arrested nine people with reported links to the Al-Qaeda terror network on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in France. In November, Parliament adopted new anti-terror legislation. Police are now able to search cars with the authorization of a prosecutor, a right previously prohibited. Police can also search private property without warrants. They also have greater access to private telephone conversations and e-mail. Judges can now demand that phone and Internet companies save messages for up to one year. teaching of the Corsican language. In December, the French Parliament approved an autonomy bill, which granted Corsica's regional assembly the right to amend some national legislation. The bill also permitted using the Corsican language in the curriculum of all schools. Implementation of the second phase, to take place throughout 2003 and 2004, is dependent on the success of the first phase and the total absence of violence, and would necessitate reform of the French constitution. Despite open suspicion toward Muslims and prohibitions against wearing religious garb or symbols in state schools, religious freedom is protected. In June, Parliament adopted a bill allowing courts to ban groups considered sects.
Labor rights in France are respected in practice, and strikes are widely and effectively used to protest government economic policy. The government acted to further entrench the shortened workweek during the year, originally adopted in October 1999. Women enjoy equal rights in France. A dramatic December ruling in France's highest appeals court granted children with Down syndrome the legal right to have never been born. Doctors are subject to lawsuits if they do not sufficiently inform mothers of prenatal warning signs, thus denying them the opportunity to have an abortion.
Constitutional Limits on Government: Country Studies - France
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Rankings in Freedom in the World 2010: 1 Political Rights, 1 Civil Liberties (Free) Summary France is Western Europe's largest country by area and the 48th largest in the world, excluding its overseas territories. It has a population of about 61 million people, ranking 21st in the world. By economic measurements, France is among the world's most successful countries. With a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.231 trillion, it had the world's sixth-largest and Europe's third-largest economy (after Germany and Britain) in 2006. By purchasing power parity (PPP), which accounts for local price differences to get a more accurate picture of living standards, France's GDP ranked seventh in the world in 2006, at $1.942 trillion. Nominal gross national income (GNI) per capita was 22nd in the world ($36,550), and PPP GNI was 23rd ($32,130). France is a republic with a mixed presidentialparliamentary system of government. As with many countries, it has a history filled with division, intolerance, absolutism, and empire. But France also has a strong tradition of republicanism, popular revolution, human rights, and resistance to Nazi occupation. The seminal event in its modern history was the Revolution of 1789, which toppled the absolute monarchy and ushered in the country's first republican government. Today, France's democracy is among the world's strongest. Its powerful presidency is unusual for Europe, where the parliamentary system is more common, but its constitutional limits are clearly established. The National Assembly has decisive powers to approve or censure the government and pass laws and budgets, and the system is further protected by two constitutional France courts, independent news media, and a vibrant intellectual class that exercises its rights of speech, conscience, and thought without hindrance. History
The area that later became France was conquered in the first century BC by the Romans, who knew it as Gaul. After the collapse of the Roman Empire five centuries later, the territory formed part of the larger Frankish kingdom established by Clovis I. However, the realm was repeatedly divided by feuding princes and Viking raids, and it eventually became a patchwork of estates ruled by powerful noblemen. France emerged as a distinct political unit only in the late 10th century, when kings based in the Paris area began to assert royal authority over the surrounding lands. Over the subsequent centuries, the French kings also had to contend with the rulers of England, who claimed sovereignty over large parts of the country. But by the reign of Francis I (1515±47) of the Valois dynasty, the royal government had extended its control almost to the borders of modern France. Wars of Religion The rise of Protestantism among the French nobility and townsmen, combined with opposition to growing royal authority in many parts of the country, helped to plunge France into a series of bloody civil conflicts beginning in 1562. During this time, the minority who converted to Protestantism (known as Huguenots) were subject to repression and massacres. Henry IV, the first king of the Bourbon dynasty, was himself a Protestant. He defended his succession to the throne, winning military victories over his Catholic enemies, but converted to Catholicism to gain the acceptance of his overwhelmingly Catholic subjects. To prevent further unrest, he issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, providing Protestants with freedom of worship and civil equality (see also "Freedom of Religion"). Renunciation of the Edict of Nantes Henry's son and successor, Louis XIII (1610±43), together with his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, undermined the Edict of Nantes through restrictive interpretation and brutally suppressed the Huguenot rebellion of 1625±29. France nevertheless intervened on the Protestant side during the last part of the Thirty Years War (1618±48) due to its rivalry with Spain and Austria. In doing so, it gained a number of neighboring German territories. France agreed to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which confirmed the right of states to determine their own religion and the more general principle of state sovereignty. For France's next king, Louis XIV (1643± 1715), this meant further repression of Protestant worship and the full revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Many Protestants, if they did not convert to Catholicism, left the country. France today remains predominantly Catholic. The Absolutist State Louis XIV is also known for centralizing the state and economy through his principal financial minister, Jean Baptiste Colbert. Appointed in 1665, Colbert introduced a more efficient system of public accounts and debt management, and offered state support to invigorate maritime trade and domestic industries. Through his combination of state direction of the economy and promotion of trade, Colbert is considered a father of mercantilism, which emphasized the national accumulation of gold and silver through increased exports and internal self-sufficiency (see "Economic Freedom).
Painting of "Combat Quiberon 1795" by Jean Sorieul, illustrating a Battle during the French Revolution
Over the course of the 18th century, attempts at reform were hampered or undone by costly foreign wars and lingering feudal institutions. The government was plagued by fiscal crises even when the wider economy was performing well, and extensive aristocratic privileges frustrated both royal officials and society at large. At the same time, the philosophical Enlightenment of the era spread new ideas among French intellectuals, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who promoted ideas of popular sovereignty and equality. Most important, Enlightenment thinkers drew attention to the irrationality and cruelty of the existing French system. The Revolution In 1789, financial difficulties forced King Louis XVI to call a gathering of representatives of the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners, known collectively as the Estates-General. In June, the "third estate" rejected the authority of nobles and clerics, declared itself a National Assembly, and sought to impose a constitution on the king. After the monarch began to resist this action, the citizens of Paris revolted on July 14 and stormed the Bastille, a major prison and armory. Their uprising quickly took the form of a national revolution. The National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which went further even than the American Declaration of Independence or Constitution in asserting citizens' democratic rights. Despite the document's republican rhetoric and the people's repudiation of royalty, most delegates of the Assembly still hoped to maintain a constitutional monarchy. However, the Revolution grew more radical after Louis The constitution establishes the attempted to flee the country and a devastating war began rights and freedoms of the citizenry with Austria and other royalist European powers. In and proclaims the people s 1792, the monarchy was abolished by a new National "attachment" to the 1789 Declaration Convention, elected by universal male suffrage. The king of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. was beheaded the following year, and the most extreme factions, led by the Jacobins, established a dictatorship ruled by a group of revolutionary committees. The period from 1793 to 1794, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, is known as the Reign of Terror. Citing the ideas of Rousseau and other Enlightenment thinkers, Robespierre and his allies insisted that their actions were necessary to save the Revolution from its internal and foreign enemies. Thousands of people²the royal family, nobles, bourgeoisie, intellectuals, peasants, and workers²were arrested, sentenced to death by obedient courts, and executed by guillotine. Foreshadowing similar actions by 20thcentury totalitarian regimes, the radical government adopted a new revolutionary calendar, with the first year set to mark the founding of the republic. The Thermidorian Reaction and the Rise of Napoleon The National Convention finally deposed Robespierre and turned against the extremes of the Terror in what became known as the Thermidorian reaction, named for the month in the revolutionary calendar in which it occurred. A new constitution was adopted, creating a bicameral legislature and a five-member executive Directory. However, the ideologically moderate regime was buffeted by opponents on the left and right, and it was dependent on the support of the increasingly powerful military. Napoleon Bonaparte, an army general, took power in a coup in 1799, becoming "first consul" of the republic. He proclaimed himself emperor in 1804 and engaged in years of warfare with the European monarchies before his final defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon's legacy was long-lasting. He transformed France by introducing a uniform legal code and system of bureaucracy, and spread the core ideas of the Revolution across Europe through his military conquests.
A Tumultuous 19th Century and the Founding of the Third Republic
The Bourbon dynasty was restored in 1815, although this time with a constitution and elected legislature. When the king attempted to reassert elements of absolutism, a revolt led by the upper middle class placed Louis Philippe, the duc d'Orleans, on the throne in 1830. The electorate remained limited under the new monarchy, and increasingly entrenched. disenfranchised groups rose up in 1848 to establish the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the former emperor's nephew, won election as president of the new republic later that year. He staged a coup as his single term in office drew to a close, and in 1852 a plebiscite confirmed him as Emperor Napoleon III. In the course of France's crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870±71), the emperor was deposed and a Third Republic was proclaimed. A leftist Paris Commune²in the tradition of the radical Paris Commune that arose following the 1789 Revolution²was organized to oppose both the Prussians and the relatively conservative new regime, but it was defeated by government forces in 1871. The Third Republic went on to become the longest-lasting constitutional system in France's history. While monarchist elements continued to play an influential role in national affairs for many years, the economic, social, and political transformation wrought by the Revolution and its aftermath grew increasingly entrenched. Vichy: A Shameful Era The Third Republic survived World War I (1914±18) but quickly collapsed in the face of a Nazi German invasion in 1940. Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the republic's last prime minister, agreed to an armistice that allowed German forces to occupy and administer much of the country, including Paris. Meanwhile, the constitution was suspended and Petain became the leader of a Fascist puppet regime based in Vichy, in central France. In 1942, the Germans occupied the whole country. But for the rest of World War II, the Vichy government cooperated fully with the Germans, hunting down and executing resistance fighters, contributing French labor and resources to the German war effort, and helping to round up tens of thousands of Jews for deportation and mass murder. During the war, many French took part in the resistance movement against German occupation, engaging in spying, sabotage, and guerrilla fighting. General Charles de Gaulle escaped to London and helped establish a Free French army and government in exile. But large numbers of businessmen, civil service workers, and police collaborated with the occupiers. The Vichy regime came to an end after the successful Allied invasion of France in June 1944. A provisional government headed by de Gaulle gave way in 1946 to the Fourth Republic, which was similar in constitutional structure to the Third. The Communist Party, which had been active in the wartime resistance, gained prominence immediately after the war, raising fears that France would align itself with the Soviet Union. However, American aid through the Marshall Plan and France's other political parties helped to rebuild the country on a democratic footing. France later emerged as one of Europe's strongest economies and a leading force in the creation of the European Union (EU). French Colonialism France had been an active participant in the European race to build colonial empires around the world. Although it lost its North American possessions at the end of the French and Indian War
While monarchist elements continued to play an influential role in national affairs for many years, the economic, social, and political transformation wrought by the Revolution and its aftermath grew
(also known as the Seven Years War) in 1763, it retained a number of Caribbean islands and French Guiana. Napoleon I briefly regained a section of North America from Spain, but sold it to the United States in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Over the course of the 19th century, France extended its control over parts of Southeast Asia, North and West Africa, and islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It also joined Great Britain in dividing the Middle East after World War I, taking responsibility for Syria and Lebanon in a last bid at imperial expansion. However, in the decades following World War II, all European countries came under pressure to dismantle their colonial empires and leave independent states in their place. Under the Fourth Republic, France's overseas empire was reorganized as the French Union, which ostensibly granted more equity and autonomy to the colonies. Nevertheless, Vietnamese forces compelled the French to withdraw from Southeast Asia in 1954, and many other countries gained independence over the next decade. The most consequential anticolonial struggle for France was that of Algeria, where many French colonists had settled since the first French invasion in 1830. Years of brutal violence and political turmoil²in which the French government contended with both Algerian nationalists and, toward the end, militant colonists and army factions²finally resulted in independence in 1962, but only after a constitutional overhaul in France itself. Meanwhile, a number of former colonies, mainly small island territories, have remained part of France as overseas departements (French administrative regions), and the country retains close relations with most of its former empire in a community not unlike the British Commonwealth. Constitutional Limits The Fourth Republic, established immediately after World War II, had restored many of the Third Republic's characteristics, including a constitutionally strong but politically divided Parliament and a relatively weak executive. As the Algerian crisis came to a head and right-wing elements threatened to rebel, Charles de Gaulle was recalled from retirement in 1958 and set about establishing a Fifth Republic that included his vision of a strong presidency. The new constitution was approved by public referendum in September 1958 and amended in 1962. The Fifth Republic: A Semi-Presidential System Today, France is a republic with a mixed presidential-parliamentary system of government, also known as a semi-presidential system. The president, the head of state, is elected directly to a five-year term (until 2002 it was seven years), with the possibility of reelection. He or she appoints the prime minister and cabinet, sets overall government policy, and plays an especially prominent role in national security and foreign policy, with formal command of the armed forces and responsibility for concluding treaties. The president can dissolve Parliament before the end of its term and may rule by decree in emergency situations. The prime minister and other ministers handle the implementation of government policy, making more detailed, day-to-day decisions. The Parliament's Role Parliament, which is bicameral, meets for a nine-month session each year, although the president may call an emergency session in the three-month interim period. The lower house, the National Assembly, has 577 deputies directly elected to five-year terms and is the principal legislative body. All seats are open in a general election. In addition to approving budgets and laws, it has the power to bring down a prime minister and cabinet through a vote of censure. Therefore, the government must retain the approval of a majority of the Assembly.
Members of the upper house, the Senate, are chosen by an electoral college made up of the elected officials from their respective departments or territories. Twelve senators represent French nationals living abroad. Senators (who numbered 331 as of 2007) serve for six years, with one-half of the seats up for election every three years. The Senate can offer amendments to bills and initiate some forms of legislation, but the more powerful National Assembly can overrule it in any disagreement. Since Parliament and the president are elected separately, they sometimes represent different parties, as in the United States. However, in France such cases of divided government are called cohabitation, since the president must work²within the executive branch²with a prime minister and cabinet members from a rival party. Since 1980, there have been periods of cohabitation pairing a Socialist president (Francois Mitterrand) with a majority conservative National Assembly, and a conservative president (Jacques Chirac) with a Socialist majority in the Assembly. More often, the president has a unified government, with a cabinet and legislative majority from his own party. The Foundation of the Constitution The constitution establishes the rights and freedoms of the citizenry and proclaims the people's "attachment" to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Institutional safeguards include the Constitutional Council, which examines the constitutionality of legislation referred to it by Parliament, the prime minister, or the president before it is signed into law; and the Council of State, which hears constitutional questions or claims against the government brought by individual citizens. The constitution is less clear on the status of immigrants, an issue that has gained prominence in recent years. Roughly 10 percent of the population is foreignborn, and many others were born in France to immigrant parents. A series of urban riots in 2005 highlighted the problem of their rights, social status, and economic conditions. The strength of the constitution and the country's vigorous intellectual tradition are among the most important checks on governmental power in France. They foster and protect an independent media and a culture of commentary and criticism in which individuals fully exercise their rights of free inquiry, expression, thought, and conscience. France's media outlets often have political orientations but operate independently of any political party. Several of today's newspapers and magazines have their roots in the period of resistance to Nazi rule, during which independent journalists put out daily and weekly papers at great risk to their lives and liberty. Alliances France was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community (1952), which eventually grew into the European Union, and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO (1949). These institutions established strong treaty obligations, including commitments to uphold peace, human rights, and democracy. France withdrew from NATO's military command structure in 1966, but agreed to rejoin the alliance's Military Committee in 1995; it has since participated in joint NATO actions in the Balkans and Afghanistan. France has played a leading role in the European Union, especially in supporting steps toward greater economic, monetary, and political integration. In recent times, however, French presidents have resisted EU requirements to adopt specific budget changes and efforts to alter farm subsidies that benefit French agriculture. In 2005, French referendum voters rejected a proposed EU constitution due to perceived encroachments on sovereignty and other concerns. The vote was also seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with the French government, which supported the constitution plan. Conclusion
France, although it has adopted a system with a strong presidency, has constitutional limits including the legislature's powers to bring down a government; two judicial oversight bodies, the Constitutional Council and Council of State; substantial constitutional protections for civil and human rights; and treaty obligations under the EU and NATO. France also possesses vibrant independent media and an outspoken intellectual class.
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