Political Classification of France - Essay Example

The Political ification of France Introduction One of the countries in the world thathas for a long time enjoyed freedom is France. It is a small country but enjoys the best political atmosphere in the world. The country is one of the countries which are influential in the events that take place in the whole world. It rates alongside developed countries such as the United States of America, England, China and Germany among others. The country also exercises powers over other countries, which are still developing. For instance, it recently contributed to the fall of dictatorial leadership of Libya in Africa. The country has experienced many rulers under a monarchy and even empire1. The political institutions in the Country have undergone several changes since the 1789 revolution. This paper brings to attention the study of France as a country and its classification in terms of politics. Regime European countries have for a long time employed communism. Liberalization in the region introduced the issue of totalitarianism2. In the period between 1922 and 1989, there were waves of democratization which were reversed by authoritarian and totalitarian systems of governance which believed in the ideologies of National Socialism and communism. This was also the case in France which is among the European countries. The regime that is in use today in the country is totalitarianism. System of governance of the French Republic Most countries have their system of governance which may differ or be the same as of the other countries. They chose between presidential system of governance where power is not confined to one person and parliamentary system of government where executive power is rested upon collective executives. Adoption of any system under which power is shared is intensely critical in the political economy of a particular nation. France has been under a hybrid system since it was made to be a fifth republic. The system of the government is based on characteristics of both the presidential and parliamentary systems3. This means that, the country partially separates the powers and partially fuses them. The hybrid form of the republican government was created by the constitution of the fifth republic which was fully in use, in the year 1958. The authority that the parliament had been cut down, and the president was embrowned with a lot of powers such as the power to dissolve the National assembly and power to appoint the prime Minister. This was rhetoric since the prime minister had authority as the heads the council of ministers and he was also the leader of the party that had the majority seats in the National Assembly. France was termed as a sovereign country, according to this constitution. It stated that the national sovereignty belongs to the citizens of France. The constitution further gives people the right to practice their political desire in elections and referenda which took place after some specified period. Legislature of France The legislative France is entailed in the parliament. The parliament is composed of two chambers namely the National Assembly and the Senate. The two are referred to as “Assemblee Nationale” and “Senat” in French. The senate has approximately 318 members who are elected indirectly by an institution set for the purpose. The upper chamber, which is the National Assembly, is more powerful than the Senate, although both chambers share legislative authority. Members of the national assembly are about 577 in number and are elected directly by the citizens of France. The members of the senate serve a term of nine years in which a third of the seats fall for elections after every three years4. The national assembly serves for a period of five years. The charter, which is in use now, was adopted in 1958 and revised in 1962, established the Fifth Republic and provided for a powerful president, and a bicameral legislature with less power than it had in the past. The Constitution of France France has had many referendums during its existence. It has gone through many systems of governance each with its own style of leadership. However, the constitution that is being used in France was written and adopted in 1958 transforming the country from a fourth republic to a fifth republic. Nevertheless, just like most of the countries in the world, the constitution of France has had many amendments taking place. In fact, the constitution has undergone eighteen amendments since it was promulgated with the most recent one being dine in July 23rd 2008. The constitution is said to have some limitations. For instance, the charter does not provide specific guidelines on the way intellectual property rights are protected. The country’s laws are made from the original written statutes. It uses a civil legal system, where judges are not there to make laws but to interpret it. The fundamental values of the law were written in a Napoleonic Code. Unitary system of governance of France The system of governance in France is typically of a unitary system where power and authority is guaranteed to the local authorities, but the origin of the power was derived from the central government and not independently by election. Under the system, the decisions made by the lower level of government can be surpassed or ignored by the central government. The national government also controls how funds are released to the local government. There are key policies in France that are typically made and controlled by the national government. For instance, matters concerning education, use of land and police are purely handled by the central government. Form of Leadership used in France The republic of France has experienced many rulers since time immemorial. It is a country known to have been ruled by famous kings. Some of these kings who ruled France while it was a monarchy were King Henry IV and King Louis XIV. The country was a monarchy for a long time till the outbreak of a French revolution in 1789 which abolished the kingdom. The revolution’s main agenda was to establish a democratic society in which the country could be ruled by an elected leader. However, this was not the case. After failing the monarchy system, the revolution gave power to another cruel leader, Napoleon Bonaparte who again formed an empire. In 1815, the French monarchy was restored after Napoleon’s defeat by other countries5. The monarchy was again abolished in the year 1848, and the nephew to Napoleon also formed a new empire in 1852. There were also dramatic changes in the regime in 1870 when the nephew was taken to prison by Germany in the centre of the war of Franco-Prussian which took place between the year 1870 and 1871. Democracy then came back in the country forming a third republic. This system was initially established by France’s constitution of 1875. The system allowed a president to elect by a two-chambered parliament who replaced the emperor. In the third republic, there was a cabinet which was responsible for the legislative powers of the parliament6. Nevertheless, the government in this republic was faced by a lot of challenges. There were parliamentary convergences, which shifted recurrently between elections and cabinets of the government failed regularly. Besides, the third republic survived until mid eighteenth century during the World War II when the German occupied the country7. It was during this time that an authoritarian collaborationist administration was established. After the world war, in 1946, elections were held in which voters seconded a constitution of the fourth republic. The fourth republic existed for about twelve years in which France had had a total of twenty six different governments. France became a fifth republic in the year 1958 when a new constitution was drafted and promulgated with General Charles de Gaulle as the first president in the fifth Republic. Till now, France is a Republic, not a monarchy. Political party system in the Fifth Republic of France Being a fifth republic, France has experienced many elections since the time it became a republic in 19588. The elections are always taken after every five years in which citizens play a significant role in voting. Long before the country became a fifth republic it was majorly a two party system of government. The country’s politics is two groupings, which oppose each other. The groupings include the left-wing who are centered around the French socialist party and the other grouping is the right wing who are centered to the Union for Popular Movement (UMP). Majority of the politicians in the country is former servants of the governments who were at high rankings. Besides the two, there are other political parties in the country9. We have the Socialist party, the Union pour la Democratie Francoise (UDF) and the French Communist party. Type of Government ruling France A country is either under majority government, coalition government or in rare cases minority government. The majority government is where the people in power have the support of the citizens or the protocol used to elect them relies on a popular vote. Other governments are of the minority where power is in the hands of few individuals in the society. Others still employ both. The republic of France is a presidential republic which has a centralized national government. This constitution of the country significantly gives more powers to the president and limits the authority of parliament. The vote of the majority is essential in electing the government. The president, who is the head of state, is elected by direct popular vote(footnote). He then has powers to appoint the head of the government who known as the prime minister. all through the 19th century, the main distinction between the Left and Right in France was among supporters of the Republic and supporters of the Monarchy. Electoral System employed in France Every country has a particular system under which elections are carried out. French, having two chambers, the senate and the National Assembly, has a unique system of conducting elections. The system allows elections to be conducted after specific times in regard to each chamber. The Members of Parliament, who are known as Deputes, are elected majorly by the citizens, in the general elections which take place after every five years. On the other hand, the Senators are elected by a group of people who are in most cases representatives of the locals who are also elected. The electoral system for parliamentary elections involves two rounds in which a candidate can be elected on the first round by obtaining an absolute majority of votes cast. The second round is a runoff between two candidates10. Every citizen of France, who has attained an age of eighteen years and above has a right to vote. One can be deprived the right to vote under many circumstances. For instance, a Citizen can be denied the civil rights, if they are found with certain crimes. During the monarchy and empire times, women were deprived the rights to vote, but in 1944, they were allowed to participate in the exercise11. The system is also affected by the European Union, in which it is a requirement for any member country, aliens who reside in that the country should be given the right to vote. Hence, every citizen who lives in France from a country that is a member state of the union is allowed to make a decision when it comes to elections. They however, only participate in elections for seats on France’s municipal councils. The Constitutional committee, established by the 1958 constitution, has been authorized to supervise elections and referenda as well as deciding constitutional questions12. Political Culture and traditions in France Being a hybrid of presidential and parliamentary form of government system, France has experienced a rich political traditions and culture. The culture is in a wide range influenced by social, economic and geographical traits of the country. The culture has been shaped by the significant characteristics of the population in the country. Among the European countries, France is the least densely populated. Agricultural activities take the forefront in the growth of the economy of the country, though most of its citizens live in the urban areas. The French political culture has a strong characteristic of agreeing to disagree. In most cases, the division in political opinions into left and right embarks to the French revolution, which is up to today a crucial force. An agreement has always been reached by joining a strong, alluring leader. Just as many politics in the world, this agreement comes to an end when such a leader dies or goes into low esteem. The French political culture is typically alienated by cycles of consensus. Conclusion This paper has analyzed the political situation that is exhibited in the fifth republic of France. As observed, France has had a long a dynamic history behind its success as a republic and not a monarchy. Revolutions have been experienced in the country resulting into a democratic environment in the country. The governance of the country is divided into two chambers whose members are elected by the majority. The presidential form of governance of France gives the president powers to appoint the Prime minister who is the head of the government. However, the country exercises a hybrid type of governance where both presidential and parliamentary characteristics are employed. The country has got a two party system within which there are other small parties with the like minds. The two are classified into the left wing and the right wing. Finally, the paper has discussed the political culture of France which is influenced by the economic, social and geographical characteristics of the country. In general, all the points that have been discussed herein support the idea that, the present Republic of France employs socialism as the ideology13. Bibliography: Benoit, Blair. Social-Nationalism: An Anatomy of French Euroscepticism. Aldershot: Gower, 2002. Print. Bogdanor, Butler. 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