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.

* After eighteen years, however, many of the king's middle-class, liberal supporters began to chafe at the slow pace of reform under Louis-Philippe. In February 1848, revolution broke out, Louis-Philippe abdicated, and the '''Second Republic''' was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's [[Obfuscating Stupidity|seemingly-inept]] nephew. Through clever manipulation of plebiscites, he managed to get hold of absolute power.

* Flush with victory and a spirit rather like his uncle's, Louis-Napoleon proclaimed the '''Second Empire''' in 1852, declaring himself "Napoleon III" (on the theory that Napoleon's infant son had become "Napoleon II" after Uncle Nap's abdication <ref>Napoleon had formally declared his son to be this, and demanded recognition of this as a condition of his surrender and abdication, but was refused and forced to surrender unconditionally, renouncing all his descendants' right to rule</ref>). In 1870, Napoleon fell into a trap and at war with [[Magnificent Bastard|Otto von Bismarck]]'s [[Prussia]]. Briefly put, the Prussians, commanding several other German states as well, roundly kicked France's ass, leading "Napoleon III" to run off to England. Bismarck declared the [[Imperial Germany|German Empire]] at the Palace of Versailles, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Paris was taken over by leftists in an episode known as the Paris Commune, but they were bloodily crushed after 70 days <ref>The Commune is pretty much the first actual application of Socialism, during which the song ''L'Internationale'' was written. As brief as it was, some modern leftwing parties such as the Left Front still attach a great importance to it.</ref>. But by the end of 1871, the time had come for a stable government, leading to...

The French Parliament is officially a '''bi'''cameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (Theorically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known that the Deputies, and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election.

 

 

The Constitutional Council supervises elections and rules on the constitutionnality of laws both before and after they take effect.

* '''Charles de Gaulle''' (1959-1969): As a general, he became the chief of the Free French Forces during [[World War 2]] after the fall of France. Talked on British radio on June 18th 1940 about fighting on. Needless to say, he became a hero of [[La Résistance]]. Became President due to his being rock-like and firm in the face of the [[The French Colonial Empire|Algerian War]], although it turned out that he wasn't firm and rock-like the way his supporters wanted, and in fact gave Algeria its independence. [[Useful Notes/Canada|Canadians]] remember him best for his infamous "Vive le Quebec libre!" comment at Expo 67 in [[Montreal]], which emboldened Quebec separatists and [[Berserk Button|pissed off]] English Canadians to no end. Despite his charisma and popularity, he was seen more and more as dictator-like as his term went on, and was considered way too conservative for the France of [[The Sixties]] - May 1968 will attest as much. He managed to survive the May 1968 revolt by calling a snap election where his party won a crushing majority, but [[But Now I Must Go|quit]] after a referendum on reforming the Senate and administrative divisions was overwhelmingly defeated, because he had promised to resign if it failed. He is still seen as one of the greatest Frenchmen of all time. Famously depicted as very tall, with a big nose, wearing a military uniform with the trademark [[Nice Hat|two-starred kepi]] and forming a "V" with his raised arms.

[[File:Pompidou_9733.jpg|frame]]

** 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.

[[File:Giscard_391.jpg|frame]]

[[File:Mitterrand_7575.jpg|frame]]

* '''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.

[[File:Chirac_3082.jpg|frame]]

* '''Jacques Chirac''' (1995-2007): Has an old reputation for being a crook and a liar, and yet managing to remain sympathetic to the public. Apparently, succeeded in winning the 1995 elections because a puppet satirizing him in the news-comedy show ''[[Les Guignols De L Info]]'' was very funny and likeable to viewers; his 2002 [[Landslide Election]] victory was because his opponent was a far-right nationalist. Became famous overseas for opposing the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The main "antagonist" of ''[[Asterix|Obelix and Co.]]'' was based on him (during his days as Prime Minister). Some would [[Never Live It Down|never live down his comment]] that there were too many immigrants in France, not to mention ''"the noise and the smell"'' that'd badger honest French citizens. Has a bit of a reputation as unprincipled: he campaigned in 1995 promising to "heal the social fracture" only to appoint a government that tried to push reforms of public services, controversially announced more atomic tests in 1995 before abandoning them after mere months, made the ''Call of Cochin'' in 1976 criticising the EEC-friendly Gaullists only to become a strong EU supporter in office, and so on. His first government, led by Alain Juppé, bombed so spectacularly (proposed changes to labour laws and public healthcare in 1995 led to France's largest strikes since 1968) he dissolved the National Assembly and called fresh elections to try and get a stronger mandate. This move backfired when a leftist coalition won a large majority, leading to a cohabitation with the socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from 1997 to 2002, and making Chirac the first President to lose a snap election he called. D'Estaing holds a lifelong grudge against him because he feels that Chirac intentionally split the vote and helped Mitterrand win in 1981. Was previously the Prime Minister twice (between 1974-1976 and 1986-1988) and Mayor of Paris between 1977-1995, during which time he was accused of corruption and ultimately convicted after leaving office. The French electorate's view of him when he left office can be largely summed up as "good riddance" (and he was also severely unpopular in his first two years in office), whereas nowadays it's a bit closer to "y'know, he probably wasn't as bad as we thought."

 

 

 

 

[[Category:Useful Notes/France]]

[[Category:French Political System]]