France Flashcards
Dominant cleavage
Religion (reds vs whites)
Weaker cleavage
Class
Normal cleavage
Region
Fourth republic
1946-1958, fragmentation, polarisation, instable government, colonial wars and close to civil wars
Charles de Gaulle
- Resistance leader during WW2;
- Secular;
- Republican;
- Socially conservative;
- Against political parties;
- In favour of strong presidency;
- Head of transition government (1944-1946);
- Last prime-minister of 4th republic;
- First president of 5th republic;
Fifth republic
1958 - now, semi presidentialism, strong executive presidency, powerful and dominant state in economy and society, greater political stability than previously.
Majoritarianism in the fifth republic
notion of volonte general, majoritarian electoral system, referendums and constitutional judiciary
Semi presidential system
- Directly elected president and parliament;
- Prime-minister appointed by president, but can be dismissed
by parliament; - Dual executive: president and prime-minister;
- Prime-minister depends on president (outside cohabitation);
- Possibility of divided government: cohabitation;
French president
- Formal powers: military, reconsider laws, dissolve parliament, decrees, hold referendums;
- Informal powers: remove prime-minister and cabinet members; can chair council of
ministers - being a de facto head of government; - “Cohabitation”: prime-minister from different party - weakens presidency;
- Directly elected (since 1962);
- Term limited from 7 to 5 years (since 2000);
- Maximum of two terms (since 2008);
- A president should not run 2 times in a row;
presidential elections
- Majoritarian run-off (tow rounds);
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|—> Round 1: all candidates (absolute majority wins - if not, round 2);
|—> Round 2: two candidates with most votes in round 1 (absolute majority wins); - Incites electoral alliances in second round (two bloc system);
- Intra-party primaries (by the members of the party);
Parliament - national assembly
- 577 MPs;
- MPs are elected in single-member districts with two-round run-offs;
- Terms of 5 years;
- Stronger of the two houses;
- Propose and vote legislation;
Parliament - Senat
- 348 MPs;
- MPs are elected indirectly by local officials and lower-house MPs;
- Terms of 6 years;
- Weaker of the two houses;
- Delay legislation;
- Approve constitutional amendments;
Parliamentary elections
- Single-member districts;
- Majoritarian run-off (two rounds);
|
|—> Round 1: all candidates (absolute majority wins - if not, round 2);
|—> Round 2: all candidates with at least 12,5% (plurality or majority wins); - Winner take-it-all system and disproportionality;
- 1958-1990S: two-bloc party system (2 large, 2 small parties);
- After 2017: party system is changing;
Judiciary - constitutional council
- Branches: criminal, civil, administrative;
- Judging based on codification (Napoleon), rather than common law;
- Constitutional council: 9 judges elected for 9 years by president and chairs of houses or
former presidents;
Center right
Since 1958 & Gaullist
Strong centralized state, socially conservative, capitalist and free market, law and order, dominant role in foreign affairs.
Center left
dominated by intellectual elite, 1905. went from left to center left, pro welfare state, pro EU integration, now progressive and green
Far left
1920 , anti free trade, workers rights, reform of 5th republic, euro skepticism and eco socialism
Far right
- Nationalist/nativist, populist, anti islam, anti immigrant, anti EU
Center
aligned with gaullists, young. Liberalism, free trade and social equality
Voorkennis
Continental country with the largest area in the European Union. Quite
centralised state, even though it has regional entities.
Protests
XVIII. May’68 Paris protests against the capitalist state and demanding social reforms (1968);
XIX. Withdrawal from NATO military structures (1966-2009);
Political culture
- Republicanism;
- Secularism - “Laicité”;
- Democracy;
- Civic nationalism;
Religious cleavage
- Dominant cleavage in French politics;
- Separation of state and church - “Laicité”;
- In 1789-1958, there was a struggle between the “reds” (progressive, secular, republican and
urban) and the “whites” (conservative, catholic, pro-monarchy, rural); - Strong separation between religion and state codified in 1905;
- More recently: heated discussion about roles of islam;
Class cleavage
- Traditionally less important than religion;
- Emerged later (1900s) as a salient cleavage;
- Weakened by working class division on religious cleavage;
- Its gaining more salience now;
centre-periphery cleavage
- Almost absent;
- Present in Corsica, Brittany, Northern Basque Country, Occitania and oversee collectives like
New Caledonia; - Centralist tradition;
- Dominant French civic nationalism;
Prime minister
- Appointed by president;
- Can be dismissed by parliament;
- In a “cohabitation”, it is the head of government (appoints and directs cabinet and responds
to parliament); - Outside cohabitation: “chief-aide” of president;
- Sometimes spring-board to presidency;
- Initiate legislation;
- Controls parliamentary agenda;
- “Block votes” of laws;
Local government
- Considered a centralised state;
- Classic example of a unitary state;
- Nation-building requires centralisation of power - assimilation of ethnic/regional identities;
- Regional and local governments are mostly functional and weak (except for Corsica, oversea
collectives and New Caledonia); - Full integration of oversea departments and regions;
- State-led economy (dirigisme);
- Blurred line between bureaucracy, economy, judiciary and politics;
Party instability and far right rise
Post-2017 party-system change
- 1958-1990s: Two-block system (PCF + PS VS. Gaullists +UDF);
- 1990s: Near-collapse of the PCF;
- 1990s-2000s: Rise of Front National;
- 2017 election: rupture of traditional party system (decline of PS
and LR and rise of EM, RN and LFI);
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This can lead to…
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|—> Realignment - a new cleavage (nationalist/nativist/conservative/protectionist VS.
| Internationalist/multiculturalist/progressive/liberal);
|
|—> Dealignment - distrust towards politics;
