Transcript Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine
Politics in France
Comparative Politics Today, 9/e
Almond, Powell, Dalton & Strøm
Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman © 2008
Country Bio: France
Pop: 60.4 million
Territory: 211,208 sq. miles
Year of Independence: 486
Year of Current Constitution:
1958
 Head of State: President
Jacques Chirac
 Head of Government: Prime
Minister Dominque De
Villepin
 Language: French 100%
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 Religion:
 Roman Catholic: 89.5%
 Muslim: 7.5%
 Protestant: 2%
 Jewish: 1%
Current Policy Challenges
 2006: French voters were worried about
unemployment, crime, and urban violence.
 Have had high unemployment rates
 Questions regarding French membership in the
European Union
 Concerned about political corruption
 Issues of multiculturalism
 Anti-American sentiment
Historical Perspective
 One of the oldest nation-states of Europe
 French Revolution began with the
establishment of a constitutional monarchy in
1791 (the First Republic)
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Three more constitutions
Napoleon
Restoration of Bourbons
House of Orleans
Paris Revolution in 1848
Historical Perspective
 Second Republic (1848-1852)
 Universal male suffrage
 Napoleon III
 Franco Prussian War
 Third Republic (1871)
 WWII deeply divided France
 Charles de Gaulle
 Fourth Republic (1946-1958)
 24 governments in 12 years
 Fifth Republic (1958 onward)
Economy and Society
 Mixed geography
 More than 3.6 million non-citizens live in France (North Africa
and Africa)
 2 million French citizens are foreign born
 Urbanization came slowly
 Most of the urban population lives in and around Paris
 Strong economic development
 Ranks among the wealthiest of advanced industrial countries
 Inflation and unemployment
 Labor force changes
 Agriculture
 Privatization
Constitution and Governmental
Structure
 Constitution of 1958
 Parliamentary government
 The Executive
 President of the Republic
 Placed above parties
 Worked with Parliament, the Cabinet, the people
 Could appeal to the people in two ways:
 Submit legislation to the electorate for referendum
 Could dissolve Parliament and call for new elections
 Presidential powers used sparingly
 Emergency power
 Direct popular elections
 Prime minister
The Legislature
 Composed of two houses
 National Assembly
 577 members
 Elected directly for 5 years by all citizens over 18
 Committees/specialized deputies
 Senate
 331 members
 Elected indirectly from department constituencies for a
term of six years
 Half every three years
 Two houses are not equal in either power or influence
The Judiciary
 Until the Fifth Republic, France had no
judicial check on the constitutionality of
the actions of its political authorities.
 Constitutional Council
 Safeguard against legislative erosion
 Constitutional amendment in 1974
Political Culture
 Themes in political culture
 The burden of history
 Abstraction and symbolism
 Distrust of government and
history
Religious and Antireligious
Traditions
 Both Catholic and “dechristianized”
 Conflict between the two
 Revolution of 1789
 Political right and left determined by attitudes
toward the Catholic Church
 Secularization
 French Jews
 Protestants
 Muslims
 New immigration
Class and Status
 Social class
 Workers/working class
 Strong feelings regarding belonging to a
social class
 Class conscious
 Willing to demonstrate
 Traditional class differences reinforced by
growing sense of racial and ethnic
differences
Political Socialization
 Family
 Associations
 Education
 Baccalaureat
 Open admission
 Grandes ecoles
 Socialization and communication
 Mass media
 Decline in newspaper readership
 Television
Recruitment and Style of Elites
 Political class
 Modest social origins
 Changes in political recruitment
 Civil service
 Grand corps
 Hereditary class
 Tight network
Importance of Gender
 Low representation of women among
French political elites
 Political advancement requires deep
investment in parties
 Segolene Royal
 Graduate of the ENA
 Member of the Council of State
 Dearth of women’s representation
recognized but not addressed
Interest Groups: The Expression of
Interests
 No more than 8 percent of workers belonged
to trade unions
 Decline
 Economic groups surge during dramatic
moments in history
 Most groups have limited resources
 Labor movement
 Business interests
 Agricultural interests
Means of Access and Styles of Action
 Parliament
 Most convenient means to access
 Constitution of 1958
 Neocorporatism
 Professional organizations versus interest
groups
 State interest group collaboration
 French state subsidizes interest groups
 Protests
Parties: The Traditional Party
System
 Right and left
 Electoral system of the Fifth Republic favors
simplification of political alignments
 French party organizations skeletal
 Fragmentary
 Modest linkage between national and local
 Party membership low
 Party system became more competitive in 1980s
 Main political parties dominate the organization of
parliamentary work and the selection of candidates
 Less important as mass membership organizations
The Main Parties: The Right and
Center
 Union for a Popular Movement
 Union for French Democracy
 The National Front
The Left
 The Socialist Party
 Lionel Jospin
 Plural left
 Cumul des mandats
 The Communists
 French Communist Party
 Georges Marchais
 Marie-George Buffet
Patterns of Voting
 France- unitary state
 Elections held with considerable frequency
at every territorial level
 Communes
 First European country to enfranchise a
mass electorate
 Women age 21 and older granted the vote
in 1944
 Voting age lowered to 18 in 1974
Electoral Participation and
Abstention
 Rising abstention
 Voters’ confidence in all parties has declined
 Abstention cyclical
 Few permanent abstainers
 Voting
 In parliamentary election
 In referendums
 In presidential elections
Policy Processes: The Executive
 Two-headed executive
 President derives authority from direct popular elections
 Prime minister from majority support in the National Assembly
 Long years of political affinity between the holders of the two
offices solidified and amplified presidential powers and shaped
constitutional powers that had a lasting impact
 From the beginning of the Fifth Republic, the president was not
only formally appointed to Parliament the prime minister
proposed to him, but he also chose the prime minister and the
other Cabinet ministers.
 Since all powers proceeded from the president, the government
headed by the prime minister became an administrative body
until 1986.
 Council of Ministers – chaired by the president
Policy Processes: The Executive
 Prime minister is more than first among equals
 Cohabitation
 1986-1988 and from 1993-1995: conservative
majority controlled Parliament and the president was
a Socialist
 1997 to 2002: left held parliamentary majority and
the president was from a conservative party
 President continued to occupy the foreground in
foreign and military affairs.
 Prime minister became the effective leader of the
executive and pursued government objectives.
Policy Processes: The Executive
 Limits to executive power
 Role of policy failures
 Other ministers’ involvement
 Role of networks
 Two different patterns exist for sharing
executive power
 When majorities are identical; prime minister is
subordinate
 Under conditions of cohabitation, the prime
minister clearly gains dominant authority at the
expense of the president.
Policy Processes: The Parliament
 Constitution curtains the powers of
Parliament:
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As a source of legislation
As an organ of executive control
Blocked vote, Article 44
Ordinances, Article 38
Motion of censure, Article 49, Section 3
 Used infrequently; virtually excludes Parliament from
meaningful participation in the legislative process
Policy Processes: The Parliament
 Devices for enhancing the role of Parliament
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Extended sessions
Weekly question period
Television cameras
Power to amend
General support that French citizens give their elected
deputies
 Role of Senate
 Delay legislation
 Some situations where their accord is necessary
 Constitutional amendment
 Criticisms of the Senate
Checks and Balances
 No tradition of judicial review
 Constitutional Council
 Considerable impact
 Judicial restraint
 Council of State
The State and Territorial Relations
 Unitary state
 France divided into 100 departments (about
the size of a U.S. county)
 Each is under the administrative responsibility
of a prefect and has a directly elected general
council.
 Grouped into 22 regions
 Centralization versus the process of
decentralization
 Powers
Performance and Prospects: A
Welfare State
 France has a mediocre record for
spreading benefits among all its
citizens.
 Emergence of long term unemployment
Performance and Prospects: A
Welfare State
 Concentration of wealth
 Distribution of taxes: the share of indirect
taxes – such as the VAT and excise taxesremains far higher in France than in other
industrialized countries
 Indirect taxes not only drive up prices but
also weigh most heavily on the poor.
 Most effective in the area of social transfers
 Relatively low poverty rates
 High level of quality medical services and public
services
Nationalization and Regulation
 Government-operated business enterprises
 Railroads; almost all energy production; and much of the
telecommunication; most air and maritime transport; most
of the aeronautic industry; 85 percent of bank deposits; 40
percent of insurance premiums; one-third of the auto
industry, and one-third of the housing industry
 Privatization
 Deregulation of the economy
 Other areas of regulation
 Environment
 immigration
Outlook: France and the New
Architecture of Europe
 Main concerns that dominated French politics 30
years ago have changed dramatically.
 Political cleavages based on new conflicts are
emerging.
 Immigration
 Cold War
 Common Market
 Rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty
 Problem of identity in an expanding European Union
and an independent world