Transcript France Jean Blondel

France
Jean Blondel
• Leading European nation
• France and Germany’s reconciliation
articulates the economic integration of
Europe
Structural political instability
continued from the 1789 Revolution
Political Development
• Tradition of abrupt and disruptive political
changes
• 16 different constitutions since 1789
• The establishment of the French Fifth Republic
has brought some stability to the system
– Radical Right/Left tendencies
– In the last presidential election (2002), won by a
rightist, Jacques Chirac, left the the extreme-right
candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the second place and
the Left, with Lionel Jospin as their candidate, in the
third place.
French Constitutions
• 1791Constitution
Constitution of Year I
Constitution of Year III
• Constitution of Year VIII
Constitution of Year X
Constitution of Year XII
Project of constitution (04/06/1814)
Charte of June 1814
Project of constitution of June 1815
Charte of 1830
• 1848 Constitution
1852 Constitution
1870 Constitution
• Third Republic
1875 Constitutional Laws
Third Republic Constitutional Laws
Constitutional Law of June 1940
Laws of the Vichy’s Government
Project of constitution (1944)
Constituional Laws of the Free France
Regulations of the Liberation
Government
Constituional Law of November 1945
Project of constitution of April 1946
1946 Constitution
Constitutional Law of December 1954
Constitutional Law of June 1958
Multiple (and persistent) Cleavages
• Ideals of the 1789 Revolution (liberty, equality and
fraternity) Vs. monarchical traditions and values inherited
from absolutism
• Deep nationalism Vs. internationalism (the 1789
Revolution fostered both)
• Catholic church (& other Christians) Vs. “anti-clericals”
committed with a secular Republic inspired in the
principles of Reason.
• Paris Vs. the Provinces
• Class conflicts (origined in the socioeconomic structure
– Long-lasting identification of workers with the French Communist
Party (PCF).
– (Urban/Rural divide)
• Very slow urbanization. Peasants constituted a significant
part of the population until the late 1950s.
– Persistent urban-rural divide in French politics.
(French) Modernity
These conflicts paradigmatically
define the main cleavages
articulating modernity as such
The Fifth Republic
• It was only with the Fifth Republic that an
effective institutional solution was found to
articulate those conflicts and cleavages in
such a way to avoid continuous instability
and paralysis.
• 1958 Constitution (amended in 1962 to
introduce direct popular suffrage in the
presidential election)
New cleavages and challenges
• Social and cultural transformations since
the 1960s.
• Problems to integrate the immigrant
population  Increasing failure of
traditional mechanisms of construction of
national identity (ex: the school system) in
incorporating “new” French citizens
• Film “La Haine” (“Hate”)
Recent conflict over religious
symbols
• Since September 2, 2004, a new law bans
the use of religious signs or apparel in
public schools, including Jewish skull caps,
large Christian crosses, and head scarves.
Is this good or bad policy?
Will it improve national over sectorial
identification?
Groups
• Workers: Relatively small and weak trade
unions divided along political lines,
although there have been a few
autonomous trade unions.
• Business: Associations for small and
larger businesses.
Emergence of New Social
Movements
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Environmental, nuclear or regional issues
Women’s groups
Immigrants
Groups representing the unemployed
Street protests and sit-ins
Tradition of political engagement (May 1968)
French Parties
• (with the exception of the FCP) Tradition of
weekly organized and not disciplined
parties
• The 1958 constitution of the Fifth Republic
constitution was designed to limit the role
of parliament and achieve institutional
stability. It succeeded in institutionalizing
change
French Parties
• The Socialist Party (PS). In 1981, the PS came to power
for the first time under the Fifth Republic (it won the
presidency and an absolute majority in the National
Assembly) . Pro-state intervention and welfare
Since then, the party has gone through cycles
• The Right: Historically small and fragmented, it acquired
strength with de Gaulle’s leadership in the late 1950s.
Reduced to about 20 to 25% of the electorate in the
1970s and fragmented during the 1980s, the right
emerged unified in 2002.
• National Front: Fascist and Nazi inspiration/ racists
(violence against immigrants), anti-EU, Le Pen
• Green party: radical, frequently running in alliance with
socialists
The Communist Party
• Leading role in the resistance against Nazism.
• After World War II, it gained a sustained electoral
support (over 25% votes during the late 1940s
diminishing to over 20% before 1980).
• Good performance at the municipal level and in industrial
areas.
• Linked to the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT)
• Decline after the 1980s (displaced by Francois
Mitterand’s Socialism and, declined after the collapse of
the Soviet Union)
• In the last elections, the party received around 5% of
votes
Presidential or Parliamentary
System?
• Mixed and hybrid system
• Charles de Gaulle (first president of the
Fifth Republic) made for a very strong
presidency and subordinated the
Parliament.
• De Gaulle’s legitimacy = war hero,
organizer of post-WWII France, and
elected to the presidency in 1962 by
popular suffrage.
– (from that on) Strong presidential tradition
Electoral System
• Citizens 18 years old
• Multiparty system (with dominant parties)
• “Scrutin d’arrondissement a deux tours”: two ballot
system with a majority system within single-member
districts held in two consecutive Sundays
– First ballot: only candidates with more than 50% votes are
elected
– Second ballot: only candidates who got 12.5% of votes in
the first ballot can participate
• Oscillation between proportional representation and
majority system
• Different elections
– Direct, every 5 years (with runoff if needed) for President
– Direct, every 5 years (with runoff if needed) for the National
Assembly
– Indirect, every 3 years, for the Senate
The French Executive
Divided executive (“grey zone”):
• Chief of State: President (Jacques Chirac since 1995). The
president looks after the long-interests of the nation
• Head of Government: Prime Minister (J.-P. Raffarin since
2002) The prime minister is in charge of the country’s affairs
• Cabinet: Council of Ministers (about 20 ministers, appointed
by the President with the Prime Minister’s agreement).
Incompatibility between ministers and members of the
parliament (technicians)
• Elections every five years (since 2002) France’s central political
Event
• (the National Assembly proposes the Prime Minister and the President
designates it)
The French Executive
(Half presidential system)
• The President: Main decision maker (but s/he
keeps distance from daily, minor, affairs), names
the Prime Minister, appoints and dismisses
cabinet members, chairs cabinet meetings, veto
power over cabinet decrees, can dissolve the
National Assembly (and call for elections in a
month), can force the NA to reconsider projects,
submits referendums and declares the state of
emergency. Can be impeached only for treason
• Prime Minister: Designated by the President,
head of government and nexus between the
Legislature and the executive
French Cohabitation
• 1986: emergence of a parliamentary majority
different from that of the President’s party
• In both 1986 and 1993, Mitterrand appointed a
prime minister from the new parliamentary majority
• Between 1986 and 2002, there were nine years of
cohabitation
• Division of labor
• Works well, because the president retains the right
of dissolving the Assembly (in case that the Prime
Minister does not support his (or her?), and,
seeking to become President next, the Prime
Minister is interested in not to weak the presidency
The Legislative
• Votes Laws and controls the Government
– Senate (321 seats) Elected indirectly by
department districts through an electoral
college for 9-year terms. Elections (of thirds)
every three years
– National Assembly (577 seats) Elected by
popular vote under a single member
majoritarian system for 5 years
Six permanent committees (and informal
subcommittees): discuss the Government’s bills
Tradition of Harassing the Government, seen as a republican virtue
The Parliament meets for 9 months every year, and
there are also special sessions
The Judiciary
• Supreme Court of Appeals (the High Council of
the Judiciary proposes candidates, from which
the President chooses and designates judges)
• Constitutional Council. Controls the
constitutional adequacy of legislation (9
members: one third is appointed by the
president, one third by the president of the
National Assembly, and the other third by the
president of the Senate). It has become a de
facto Supreme Court
Recent Institutional Changes
• In the last two decades (after 1986) the
Parliament has regained power
• The constitutional council also plays a
more active role checking on bills passed
by the parliament
A Strong State
• For centuries now, the French state has always played a
central role in
– Limiting provincialism and
– Fostering economic growth
• Centralization in France goes back to the Ancient
Regime—the times of the absolutist monarchy.
– Purpose: to ensure people’s prosperity, economic
growth, and the nation’s strength.
• Centralization prevailed despite the French Revolution
(Alexis de Tocqueville examines persistence of
centralization in The Old Regime and the Revolution
published in 1856
• Thus, for about four centuries, the civil service has played
a leading role in the life of society and the economy
Centralization
• Historically, local governments have been weak
• France maintains almost the same structure since
1789  96 Departments divided into communes
• Communes, or local governments are numerous
(over 37,000) and lack human and material
resources to compete with the refined centralized
civil service, to which they resort for advice
– Thus, the highly specialized and efficient French civil
service has contributed to reproduce state
centralization in France
Highly qualified civil service
• Experts are chosen through very
demanding and competitive
competitive tests and then receive
training in special and prestigious civil
service schools
– Most members of the elite (technical,
political and managerial) are trained in
these civil service schools  Close
relations between the public and private
sector (specific French feature)
(In recent years) Progressive
decentralization of the French state
• Early 1980s
– Attempt to decentralize administrative functions in
France by the socialist government
– Creation of elected regional councils that elect their
executives Emergence of regional independent
political bodies
• The consolidation of the European Union favors
local and regional governments
The role of the State in the
Economy
• Long lasting tradition of planning and public ownership of
companies
– Economic modernization in the 1950s and 1960s
• The number of public companies increased with the arrival
of the socialists in power (1982)
• France had one of the largest public sectors in Western
Europe (development of mixed and flexible forms)
• After 1986 and late 1980s: Socialist support for
Privatizations (Air France, Renault, banks, TV stations) and
a reduction of the role of the state in the economy (shift in
1983 with Mitterrand support for an orthodox turn)
• Planning has almost disappeared, and only a few public
companies remain
French International Affairs
• De Gaulle’s “Worldwide policies”
• Miterrand’s (realistic) shift from “a world power”
towards European affairs (achieved the
appointment of one of his ministers as the
president of the EU)
– The consolidation of the EU has undermined French
independent role
• Ambiguity towards the EU (Dilemmas)
– France embraced the Euro
– But questions GATT negotiations (protection of French
products)
• Progressively, France must adapt its foreign
policies to make them compatible with those of
other members of the EU