French Political System: Difference between revisions

France is famous for [[The French Revolution|having gone from a monarchy to a republic]], but its political system changed no less than ten--that's right, '''ten'''--times since Louis XVI's head came off in 1793.

 

* Napoleon, deciding that being First Consul really didn't suit him, had himself declared Emperor of the French in 1804 <ref>(he did not, however, snatch his crown from the Pope’s hands - that’s apocryphal)</ref>, thus inaugurating the '''First Empire''' (again, they didn't call it that at the time). He set about conquering Europe. The other European powers ganged up on him in various ways, with limited success. But, beginning with his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, he overextended himself militarily, and was defeated and forced to abdicate in 1814. Exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba (as its ruler), he escaped back to France and raised another army, a period known as "The Hundred Days" <ref>(not completely accurate, but close enough)</ref>. Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled, rather more permanently, to the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena.

* After Napoleon was safely out of everyone's way, Louis XVI's brother, also named Louis, took the throne as Louis XVIII of France<ref> their full, non-regnal names were Louis-Auguste (XVI) and Louis Stanislas Xavier (XVIII); Louis ''XVII'' was Louis XVI’s 8-year-old son Louis-Charles, who was considered to have inherited the title at his father’s death, though he was never crowned or anointed, and died aged 10, a prisoner of the Republic</ref>. This period is thus known as the '''Restauration.''' Louis XVIII reigned fairly uneventfully, leaving the throne to his other brother, Charles X. <ref>Born Charles Philippe, since you asked.</ref> The monarchy under the Restoration was more or less constitutional, but the king wielded great power, and Charles in particular longed for the might of Louis XIV; at the very least, he wanted to be rid of the pesky parliamentarians and their elections.

** Another thing he is associated with is the Pompidou Center, or "Beaubourg", a modern art museum with a... [http://www.mackoo.com/Paris/images/IMGP2840.jpg remarkable (and controversial) architecture]. It started a tradition among presidents to create a cultural monument: The Louvre Pyramid for Mitterrand and the ''Quai Branly'' Museum for Chirac.

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* '''François Mitterrand''' (1981-1995): The longest-serving President. He is the first left-wing President to be elected in the Fifth Republic. He has a daughter out of wedlock, Mazarine Pingeot. Mitterrand, who had become very unpopular in his later years, saw a surge of his popularity when his daughter's existence was made public. First, it happens that Mitterrand took care of his daughter: instead of hiding her far away from him, he secretly raised her while he was president. (Note: when French people talk about "family values", they are talking about being a good parent and not abandoning your kids. This is [[Values Dissonance|very different]] from the American definition of the term, which is basically a synonym for "conservative Christian values.") Second, as [[Holier Than Thou]] attitudes are seen by a great majority of French citizens as [[Straw Hypocrite|Straw Hypocrisy 101]], only a few of Mitterrand's ennemies criticized him about this; actually, Giscard knew about Mitterrand's double life since [[The Seventies]] and never used it publicly against him. He was diagnosed a prostate cancer in 1981 and kept it hidden from public attention [[The Reveal|until 1992]], as it would have seriously prevented his chances to be re-elected. He died of it at age 80 in 1996.

* '''Europe-Écologie/Les Verts''' (EELV, Europe-Ecology/The Greens): A fusion between the old Green party and a more recent party led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a famous figure of the May 68 protests who is now more of a centrist. Currently, the party is led by Cecile Duflot. The political spectrum within the alliance is quite large, from de-growth activists to centrist liberals. Thus, the political line of the party is rather blurry.

** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Éva Joly'' (a former Franco-Norwegian examining judge). She scored 2.5%.

** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Hollande'' (deputy of the Corrèze department). He scored 28% in the first round and won the second round with 51,5%.

* '''Mouvement Démocrate''' (MoDem): the main centrist party, founded by the former lead of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), François Bayrou (deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantique). Economically mildly liberal, it created a surprise in 2007 with a score of 18,5%, [[One Episode Wonder|but nothing ensued from it]]. Bayrou explicitly cites the American Democrats as an inspiration (hard to believe, we know, but the "neither socialist nor conservative" thing is actually kind of appealing to some in France), and actually tried to call his party ''Parti démocratique'', but learned that some dinky party nobody had ever heard of already had the name.

* '''Debout la République''' (DLR, Stand Up Republic): Formerly a trend within the UMP, led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it seceded and became an independent party in 2007, to represent the Gaullist right-wing. They defend a Keynesian capitalism against a deregulated, financial one, as well as a confederal model for the European Union. They also promote the Euro as a common reference currency while getting back national currencies in parallel.

** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Nicolas Dupont-Aignan'' (Deputy of the Essone department). He scored 2%.

** Their candidate for 2012 was the outgoing president, ''Nicolas Sarkozy''. He scored 27% in the first round but was beaten in the second round with 48,5%.

** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Marine Le Pen'' (Member of European Parliament). She scored 18%.

 

[[Category:Useful Notes/France]]

[[Category:French Political System]]