Comparative Politics of France PDF

and in Comparative Politics SECOND EDITION PATRICK H. O'NEIL I KARL FIELDS I DON SHARE ~ W.W. NORTON & COMPANY Independent Publishers Since 1923  C Why Study This Case? The French ca...

and in Comparative Politics SECOND EDITION PATRICK H. O'NEIL I KARL FIELDS I DON SHARE ~ W.W. NORTON & COMPANY Independent Publishers Since 1923  C Why Study This Case? The French case offers a fascinating study of regimes. In little more than two centuries, France has experienced a wide variety of regimes, ranging from authoritarianism (absolute monarchy, revolutionary dictatorship, and empires) to democracy (parliamentary and semi-presidential). During this period, France has been governed by three monarchies, two empires, five republics, a fascist regime, and two provisional governments and has promulgated 15 separate con- stitutions. The most dramatic transition was, of course, the French Revolution (1789-99), in which French citizens overthrew the ancien regime (the European old order of absolute monarchy buttressed by religious authority) and replaced it, albeit briefly, with a democratic republic. Not until the present Fifth Republic (established in 1958) was France able to break this alternating cycle of stern authoritarian rule and chaotic, or at least dysfunctional, democracy. Although revolution is no longer politics as usual and today's French citizens are more centrist, French political life is far from mun- dane. French citizens remain skeptical, if not cynical, about politics and politi- cians and vigorously divided on issues such as immigration, unemployment, European integration, and the proper role of the state. The French case poses two important questions for students of comparative politics. First, French history has given the state a prominent role in economic development. Today, French citizens enjoy a variety of state-provided benefits and protections that are absent in many other advanced democracies. However. France currently suffers from high levels of unemployment and is challenged by rapidly escalating public debt. Is France's statist political-economic model com- patible with its role in an increasingly globalized society, and can the French government reform that model to protect France's economic competitiveness? 277 I  GERMANY BELGIUM 1:n91ish , C , "1 CHANNEL ISLANDS ~ (U.K.). ~~ ATLANTIC OCEAN Bay of Biscay r N SPAIN + Mediterranean Sea 0 - - = ~ 5 0~ ==,;;IOOmi 0 50 100km  Second, as a legacy of the French Revolution, the French have a powerful sense of citizenship and equality. The yellow vests movement, which began in 2018, is a grassroots protest against tax reforms and economic policies seen as favoring the rich, and is the most recent example of this legacy. It has also long been a sacrosanct pillar of French political culture that national identity trumps religious or ethnic identity, but over the last few decades, France has become more ethnically diverse and now has a growing Muslim minority. This develop- ment has ignited a fierce debate about how the secular French state should deal with this population, and mainstream French politicians have supported policies aimed at limiting the expression of ethnic (as opposed to "French") identity. This debate, and attacks by Islamic terrorists that killed over 230 French citizens (and wounded hundreds more) in Paris and Nice in 2015 and 2016, have shaken up the French political environment and have moved the previously peripheral issues of religion and ethnicity to center stage. Can France protect its commit- ment to a secular and multiethnic state while integrating its growing Muslim minority? Historical Development of the State Whereas French history offers us valuable insights kingdoms and principalities within the confines of into the study of regimes, chis same history is what is now France. As with feudal kings elsewhere, also an essential primer on the rise of che modern che Frankish rulers sought co increase their hold- nation-scare. From Louis XIV's declaration of L'etat, ings, stature, and security by squeezing wealth from c'est moi ("I am the state") co Napoleon's establish- their subjects. In contrast co the United Kingdom, ment of bureaucratic legal codes and the rule of French feudalism led co absolute monarchs, who law, the development of the French state offers an centralized authority and developed bureaucracies archetype for the emergence of a powerful scare. Yee capable of taxing che subjects and administering ic exists alongside a society chat views mass demon- the affairs of state. strations against authority as an important cool of Absolute monarchy was an important first political change. step in the development of a strong French scare, capable of making and executing laws, waging war, ABSOLUTISM AND THE and raising money co provide defense. By the fif- teenth century, Louis XI had sufficiently centralized CONSOLIDATION OF THE MODERN his authority such that he could wage expansive FRENCH STATE wars. In chis way, he doubled the size of his king- In carving out the Holy Roman Empire in che early dom co roughly the current borders of France. He ninth century, Charlemagne, leader of a Germanic was also able to weaken the influence of the nobil- tribe known as the Franks, established a realm ity and largely ignore the Church, aristocracy, and encompassing much of western Europe. In doing commoners. His successors over the next three cen- so, he unified the area we know as France earlier turies reinforced these trends, forging a centralized than any of the other European scares were uni- scare with a reputation for administrative efficiency fied. Bue with Charlemagne's death, Frankish con- chat has largely persisted to this day. The pinnacle trol was reduced co an assortment of small feudal of chis absolutist authority came during the rule Historical Development of the State 279  of Louis XIV, who dubbed himself the Sun King and paranoia such that the very perpetrators of the and famously declared that he alone was the stare. revolution were themselves devoured by the vio- Although this was an overstatement, the absolut- lence. The Jacobins' ruthless leader, Robespierre, ist French state of the seventeenth century was the became the guillotine's final victim as the Reign of envy of all Europe. France had a standing profes- Terror came to an end in 1794. Although the vio- sional army, a mercantilist state-run economy, an lence ceased, the ideological and cultural division efficient (though deeply regressive) tax system, and between two poles-conservative, Catholic, and the extravagant palace of Versailles. rural versus progressive, secular, and urban-would Neither war nor court life came cheap, however; resonate in French politics for centuries and in the drains on the royal coffers, combined with the some ways persists today. system of taxation, had by the eighteenth century In 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte seized reduced the French commoners to famine and power in a coup d'etat that brought the decade of bankrupted the state. In response, the French Rev- revolutionary turmoil to an end. Unlike the revo- olution, which began on July 14, 1789, as a protest lution that had swept away the former social and over rising bread prices, abolished the monarchy. political institutions, Napoleon's coup retained and indeed codified key elements of the revolution- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, ary order. The Napoleonic Code documented the principles that all men are equal before the law; that DESTRUCTION OF THE ARISTOCRACY, the people, not a monarch, are sovereign; and that AND EXTENSION OF STATE POWER the church and state are separate domains. Further The early period of the revolution had many demo- enhancing France's long bureaucratic tradition, cratic features. A National Assembly was created, Napoleon established a meritocratic civil service and that body issued rhe Declaration of the Rights that was open to all citizens and a system of elite of Man and of rhe Citizen, which proclaimed rhe schools to train these functionaries.' natural rights of the individual in opposition co the tyranny of monarchy. The revolutionaries con- cluded chat the ancien regime, with its hereditary THE RETURN TO ABSOLUTISM IN and religious privileges, muse be destroyed and POSTREVOLUTIONARY FRANCE replaced. No longer should birth or faith determine Napoleon's strong state became even stronger when justice, public office, or taxation. "Liberty, Equality, he was proclaimed emperor for life in a national ref- Fraternity!" became the rallying cry of the revolu- erendum in 1804, and the First Republic gave way tion. But unlike their American counterparts, who to the First Empire. Over rime, Napoleon's rule feared the tyranny of any centralized authority, increasingly resembled the tyranny of the abso- French revolutionaries never questioned the need lute monarchy that had justified the revolution. for a powerful centralized scare, nor did rhey fear He ruled for another 10 years and then abdicated what might happen were that state co fall into the the throne for a year in the wake of a series of mili- wrong hands. tary defeats at the hands of the hostile conservative In 1791 , French moderates wrote a new con- monarchies that surrounded France. After a brief stitution limiting the monarchy and setting up a return, he was permanently defeated in 1815 by the representative assembly that in many ways resem- British at the Battle of Waterloo. bled Britain's constitutional monarchy. But this With military support from the victorious middle-ground effort was undermined both by European powers, absolute monarchy, not democ- monarchists on the right (conservative nobles and racy, replaced Napoleon's empire, and the bit- clerics) and by radical anticlerical republicans on ter ideological divisions of the revolutionary era the left. Led by a militant faction known as the reemerged. The Church and the aristocracy reas- Jacobins, the radicals seized power and launched a serted their privileges until a popular revolt in class war, known as the Reign of Terror, in which 1830 forced the Crown to establish a constitutional chose who stood in the way of this radical vision of monarchy and promise to pay more respect to the republicanism were executed (including the mon- interests of the rising urban middle class. A third arch). As in other, later revolutions, such as those revolution, in 1848, ended monarchical rule, estab- in the Soviet Union and China, terror bred turmoil lished universal male suffrage, and constituted the 280 FRANCE TIME LINE Political Development 800 "France" first emerges as an independent power under Charlemagne. 1661-1715 Absolute monarchy culminates in the rule of Louis XIV. 1789 French Revolution is launched with storming of the Bastille in Paris. 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power and brings revolution to an end. 1848, 1871 Popular uprisings lead to the Second and Third Republics. 1940 Third Republic is replaced by Vichy (German puppet) regime. 1946 The weak Fourth Republic is established. 1954 The French leave Vietnam in defeat. 1958 Threat of civil war over Algeria returns Charles de Gaulle to office, leading to the ratification of his presidency and the Fifth Republic by referendum. 1968 The Events of May rioters in Paris demand social and educational reforms. 1969 De Gaulle resigns. 1981 Franc;ois Mitterrand and the Socialists are elected. 1986 First period of "cohabitation" between socialist president Mitterrand and neo-Gaullist prime minister Jacques Chirac takes place. 1992 Slim majority of French voters approve Maastricht Treaty, establishing the Economic and Monetary Union (within the European Union) and the euro. 2005 In a referendum, French voters reject proposed European Union constitution. 2017 Emmanuel Macron elected president. short-lived Second Republic. The new republic had absence of central authority once again led to vio- a directly elected president-the first such office lent conflict between conservative monarchists in Europe. This development reflects the ongoing and radical republicans. Although conservatives French preference for a strong executive, albeit one came to dominate the National Assembly, rad icals directly chosen by the people; it also reflects an in Paris established a short-lived rival government amalgam of monarchical and revolutionary val- known as the Paris Commune, until French troops ues. In 1848, the people elected as their first pres- crushed the uprising. ident Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Napoleon, who followed in his uncle's footsteps, using a national DEMOCRATIZATION AND THE referendum to proclaim himself emperor. In 1852, WEAK REGIMES OF THE THIRD AND Louis-Napoleon (now called Napoleon III) replaced the Second Republic with the Second Empire. He FOURTH REPUBLICS ruled for nearly two decades, presiding over a period From the ashes of the Second Empire emerged of peace and rapid industrial growth. France's Third Republic, which survived for 70 Both peace and prosperity halted with France's years-until the outbreak of World War II. The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, Third Republic was weakened by the persistent in which Napoleon III was captured, and the Sec- and seemingly irreconcilable splits among various ond Empire came to an end. Not surprisingly, the ideological factions, ranging from monarchists to Historical Development of the State 281  anarchists. These divisions made stable govern- During this period, significant progress took ment almost impossible, and successive govern- place in such areas as postwar reconstruction and ments often lasted less than a year. Despite weak the creation of the European Union. The regime, government, the powerful bureaucracy remained. however, could not effectively deal with France's And allied with French business interests, it contin- colonial legacy as independence movements in ued to promote economic development. many colonies grew powerful. The situation was Political divisions were further polarized by the particularly acute in Algeria, a North African and devastation of World War I, during which more Muslim country that had been under French con- than 1.5 million French people died, and by the trol for over a century. It was also home co some economic depression that followed. These crises 1 million French and European settlers. Growing provided fertile ground for both communism and Algerian resistance co French rule had led co signif- fascism, as political extremists of the left and the icant violence between Algerians, settlers, and the right proffered Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, French military. By 1958, French generals in Alge- respectively, as preferable alternatives to France's ria responded by establishing a provisional gov- weak and immobilized democratic republic. ernment and threatening military action against This debate was preempted by France's swift France itself if Algeria did not remain French. defeat at the hands of the overwhelming Nazi mili- Under these dire circumstances, the government tary force in the opening weeks of World War II. The called on de Gaulle to return co politics and seek a Nazi victors collaborated with the French right in way out of the crisis.3 setting up the puppet Vichy regime, named after the town in central France where the government THE RECOVERY OF STATE POWER was based. Even many French moderates ended up supporting this fascist government, reasoning that AND DEMOCRATIC STABILITY UNDER the Nazis were better than the threat of a commu- THE FIFTH REPUBLIC nist governmenr. 2 Other French citizens, however, As he had a decade earlier, de Gaulle insisted that including communists and members of religious he would serve only if the French people authorized groups, resisted the Nazi occupation (both from and accepted a new constitution that established a within France and outside the country). Although strong executive and addressed the ocher ills of the the resistance effort was diverse and at best only Third and Fourth Republics. The new constitution loosely linked, General Charles de Gaulle, who led was put to a referendum and accepted. De Gaulle, the French resistance after escaping to England who had served briefly as the last prime minister in 1940, ultimately came to embody the French of the Fourth Republic, became the first president anti-Nazi movement. of the new Fifth Republic, in 1959. After World War II, de Gaulle's heroic stature Using his sweeping executive authority, from as leader of the resistance effort and his role in 1959 to 1968 he granted Algeria independence, France's provisional government positioned him to established France as an independent nuclear play an important political role in the new Fourth power, withdrew it from the military command Republic. However, de Gaulle believed that a major structure of the North Atlantic Treacy Organiza- weakness of the previous regime was that too little tion (NATO), promoted European integration, power had been vested in the presidency-a view nationalized a number of key industries and private nor shared by other political leaders. As a result, firms, and established a substantial welfare state. de Gaulle withdrew from politics. After the war, Although he averted civil war, revitalized the the new Fourth Republic, based on an electoral French economy, and restored French national S)'Stem of proportional representation and parlia- pride, de Gaulle was also criticized (particularly by mentary government with a weak prime minister, the left) as an authoritarian demagogue. He failed was frequently as paralyzed as the Third Republic to command the loyalty of a new generation that had been. No single party or even a stable coalition had no memories of World \Var II or de Gaulle's of parties was able to form a government for long- role in it. In 1968, many young Parisians took to 20 governments were formed in just 12 years-and the streets in what came to be known as the Events thus no political leader was in a position to make of May. Students erected barricades and demanded difficult choices. educational changes, and workers seized factories 282 FR A N C E and called for sweeping social reforms. De Gaulle vanize support by presenting a referendum in 1969 was able to weather these protests, but in the end on various constitutional reforms. When the refer- he lost his mandate. He turned to the public to gal- endum failed, he resigned from office. Political Regime It might seem that de Gaulle's departure would have The French constitution has proved durable and signaled the end of the Fifth Republic, so tightly has seen relatively few significant amendments over connected was it to de Gaulle himself. But rather the past 50 years. Most of the notable changes have than prompting a new round of polarized debate, involved the presidency: in 1962, the constitution revolution, and yet another constitution, the was modified co allow direct election of the presi- regime held, and it remains the current regime of dent; and in 2000, the president's term was reduced France. Although the French had rejected a leader, from seven co five years to limit divided government. they chose not to reject his vision of a republic led by a strong national executive. Since de Gaulle, a THE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT series of powerful presidents have each contributed THE PRESIDENCY Unlike a presidential system, co the image of France as a country with a strong the French semi-presidential system includes a bureaucracy, an independent foreign policy, and an dual executive: the president is head of state, and economic system tightly connected to the state. the prime minister is head of the government. However, the constitution of 1958 is ambiguous in POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS differentiating the powers of the president and the THE CONSTITUTION France's current regime, prime minister. Indeed, the French president has the Fifth Republic (1958-present), is codified in relatively few formal powers, but during the course the constitution of 1958. The central goal of de of the Fifth Republic the president has, by prece- Gaulle's constitution was to eliminate the pure par- dent, acquired powers somewhat beyond chose liamentary system and enhance the power of the specified by the conscicution.4 The ability of French executive vis-a-vis France's traditionally powerful presidents co assume powers that are not explicitly and fractious legislature. France thus developed a delineated in the constitution was facilitated when, semi-presidential executive system that was innova- from 1958 to 1981, President de Gaulle and his tive at the time. The Fifth Republic created a system political heirs controlled both the legislature and whereby political power is shared by the legislature, a the presidency. Subsequently, from 1981 to 1986, directly elected president, and a prime minister who the Socialises enjoyed the same control of the legis- reports to both the president and the legislature. lature and the executive. Essential Political Features Legislative-executive system: Semi-presidential Legislature: Parlement Lower house: Assemblee nationale (National Assembly) Upper house: Senat (Senate) Unitary or federal division of power: Unitary Main geographic subunits: Regions Electoral system for lower house: Single-member districts with two rounds of balloting Chief judicial body: Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council) and the Conseil d'Etat Political Regime 283  The constitution envi- The prime minister is supposed to select a cabinet sions the French president (called the Council of Ministers) and preside over as a head of state above the day-to-day affairs of the government. In practice, the parties. But unlike when French presidents enjoy a majority in the leg- the United Kingdom's islature, they select (and can dismiss) both the prime merely symbolic head of minister and the members of the cabinet. state, French presidents The 1958 constitution appears to create a hold important politi- potential conflict between a directly elected presi- - ,Z, 1 cal powers-though they dent and a legislature dominated by the opposition. "0·.:::.:-1 are far less explicit than This is because the constitution requires the legis- those powers held by lature to ·approve the president's choice of prime their U.S. counterparts. minister. However, even when presidents have Much of the authority lacked a majority in the legislature, they have com- of the French presidents results from the prestige promised by appointing prime ministers from the and precedent of de Gaulle and from the fact that opposition. The French have dubbed this situation the president is the only directly elected political "cohabitation." What might happen should a presi- figure with a national mandate.5 Moreover, French dent refuse to compromise is not entirely clear, but presidents are elected for long terms (five years), to date predictions of a constitutional stalemate although, since 2008, they are limited to two terms have not materialized. in office. The constitution of the Fifth Republic does According to the constitution of the Fifth Repub- give the president some formal cools in addition to lic, presidents do not directly govern. Rather, they chose that have become institutionalized over time appoint a prime minister, who must be approved through precedent. Presidents direct the armed by a majority of the lower house of the legislature. forces. They cannot veto legislation, but they can t ( ~ e,;dent ) ➔ ask the lower house co reconsider it. They can submit referenda directly co the people. They muse sign all laws and decrees. Presidents also have the power to dissolve the legislature and ---- Prime Minister call new elections, a power chat has been employed on five occasions, usu- ally co obtain or reinforce legislative majorities co the president's liking. The president also enjoys a powerful staff, whose members help develop and initiate policy and work with the t Municipal, Departmental, and prime minister and che cabinet. The power of the French presidency was Regional legislatures 1 underscored in May 2016 when Pres- - --·-··- - - ~----- -.__,/ ident Hollande used constitutional t decree powers co impose a contro- versial reform of French labor laws, ( ELECTORATE thereby avoiding a vote in the legis- lature. Opponents of the measure in ~ LINES OF CONTROL the lower house failed to pass a cen- sure motion against Hollande's prime Structure of the Government minister, Manuel Valls, and the decree Although the prime minister has the formal authority to select the cab- stood despite widespread opposition. inet, in practice, the president selects both the prime minister and the Moreover, although the consti- cabinet. tution does not specify this author- ity, presidents have simply asserted 284 FRANCE Presidents and Prime Ministers of France since 1959 PRESIDENT DATES IN OFFICE TERMS PARTY PRIME MINISTERS (DATES) Charles de 1959-69 Two N/A Michel Debre (1959-62) Gaulle (resigned in Georges Pompidou (1962-68) second term) Maurice Couve de Murville (1968-69) Georges 1969-74 (died One Union of Jacques Chaban-Delmas (1969-72) Pompidou in office) Democrats for the Pierre Messmer (1972-74) Republic Valery Giscard 1974-81 One Union for French Jacques Chirac (1974-76) d'Estaing Democracy Raymond Barre (1976-81) Franc;ois 1981-95 Two French Socialist Pierre Mauroy (1981-84) Mitterrand Party Laurent Fabius (1984-86) Jacques Chirac (1986-88) Michel Rocard (1988-91) Edith Cresson (1991-92) Pierre Beregovoy (1992-93) Edouard Balladur (1993-95) Jacques Chirac 1995-2007 Two Rally for the Alain Juppe (1995-97) Republic Lionel Jospin (1997-2002) Jean-Pierre Raffarin (2002-05) Dominique de Villepin (2005-07) Nicolas Sarkozy 2007-12 One Union for a Popular Franc;ois Filion (2007-12) Movement Franc;ois 2012-17 One French Socialist Jean-Marc Ayrault (2012-14) Hollande Party Manuel Valls (2014-16) Bernard Cazeneuve (2016-17) Emmanuel 2017-present La Republique en Edouard Philippe (2017-2020) Macron Marchel (Republic Jean Castex (2020-present) Onward!) the power to remove prime ministers and cabinet serving simultaneously as prime minister. This cre- members even if those officials have support in ates a disconnect between the legislature and the the legislature. In short, the prime minister has prime minister, and it ties the prime minister more become a sort of chief aide whose goal is to carry strongly to the president. On paper, the constitu- out the president's political agenda. Consequently, tion appears to make the prime minister the most the president-not the prime minister-chairs the powerful politician in France. In practice, though, weekly meetings of the Council of Ministers. when presidents enjoy a majority in the legislature, French prime ministers are chiefly responsible for THE PRIME MINISTER French prime ministers cultivating support for presidential policies from are appointed by the president but must have the within the legislature rather than setting policy support of both the president and the legislature. themselves. Prime ministers may be removed with As opposed to many parliamentary systems in a motion of censure (effectively a vote of no con- which the prime minister is drawn from the mem- fidence), though this requires an absolute majority bers of parliament, Article 23 of the French consti- of the 577 members of the lower house. Though tution prevents members of the legislature from not specified by the constitution, presidents have Political Regime 285 ,  asserted the right co remove prime ministers even easy cask (it requires an absolute majority), and it when they are supported by a majority of the legis- may trigger new elections. This feature was used fre- lature (though their replacement must have major- quently during the 1980s and 1990s as a way of pass- ity support in the legislature). ing important legislation without legislative debate. When presidents lack a majority in the legisla- The constitution's Article 38 also grants the legisla- ture, which leads to the appointment of a prime nire the right co enable the government to legislate minister from an opposing party (cohabitation), via decrees, known as ordinances, though chis power the prime minister assumes a much greater degree has been used sparingly. Finally, the constitution of power, since she or he does not feel bound to sub- limits the number and power of the legislative com- ordinate policy matters to a president from another mittees chat once served as powerful legislative cools party. Under these conditions, the explicit powers of previous regimes. of the prime minister as laid out in the constitution Yet with all of these limitations, the legislature become prominent, effectively creating a parlia- has gradually asserted itself more forcefully. Since mentary system with a more ceremonial president. the 1970s, it has conducted a weekly questioning of government ministers (though not the presi- THE LEGISLATURE France has a bicameral leg- dent) that is somewhat similar to the British prac- islature, known as rhe parlcmcnt. In fact, it is from tice known as question time. The French National France char we gee the term parliament, which is Assembly now regularly amends legislation, and based on the French word pa,-/er, meaning "to speak." the executive no longer asserts its right co reject all France's bicameral legislature is composed of the amendments. In 1995, the legislative session was 577-member Assemblee narionale (National Assem- extended from six months co nine months, and bly) and a 348-member upper house, rhe Senat (Sen- extended special sessions have become fairly com- ate). Deputies in the National Assembly are elected mon. Legislative committees have become more for five-year renewable terms, and senators are elected important in proposing and amending legislation, for six-year terms. The constitution of rhe Fifth and motions of censure, while unlikely co pass, are Republic clearly weakened the legislature vis-a-vis the used by the opposition as a way to bring controver- executive. As a result, the French legislature is weaker sial issues to the floor for debate. than its counterparts in most advanced democracies, A major constitutional reform passed in 2008 but it still plays an important role.6 has srrengrhened the National Assembly. This The constitution gives the legislature the right reform made it easier for individual members co to propose legislation, but most bills (about 80 per- introduce legislation, reduced the government's cent) originate with the executive. The constitution ability to set the legislative agenda, and strength- gives rhe government considerable control over the ened the National Assembly's government over- workings of the legislature, including control of the sight powers. agenda and the schedule of parliamentary activity. The French upper house, the Senac, is clearly the One particularly important instrument that limits weaker of the two legislative chambers. It is elected the legislature's ability to amend legislation is the indirectly by an electoral college of local govern- blocked vote, which forces the legislature to accept ment officials and members of the lower house. bills in their entirety and allows amendments only This indirect election helps deprive the Senac of if they are approved by the government. French popular legitimacy, and its legislative powers are legislators also have no power to introduce bills or limited to delaying legislation passed by the lower amendments chat affect public spending; only the house. Important legislation has been passed over government may introduce such legislation. More- the objection of the Senat, most notably during rhe over, if the National Assembly does not approve socialist governments in power from 1981 co 1986, finance bills and the annual budget within 70 days, when the more conservative Senac opposed much those items automatically become law. of the legislation enacted by the leftist government. Another unique feature of the constitution The Senat's main power resides in its ability to allows governments to submit legislation as motions reject constitutional amendments, which require of confidence. In such cases, the proposed laws are the consent of both houses. In 2016, the Senat passed unless the legislature can muster a morion rejected a constitutional amendment proposed by of censure against the government. This is not an the government that would have stripped French 286 FRANCE citizenship from dual nationals convicted of com- after their terms had been served. While citizens mitting terrorist acts. Still, the Senac is widely seen now have the right to appeal directly to the Con- as somewhat obsolete and unrepresentative, com- stitutional Council to defend their constitutional posed of elderly conservatives (three-quarters of the rights, the vast majority of appeals to the council representatives are over 65). The French Senat has have come from groups oflegislarors. One role chat been the subject of regular calls for constitutional the Constitutional Council does not serve is that of reform. But since de Gaulle's failed attempt in a court of lase appeal for cases from lower courts; 1969, the upper house has undergone few consti- chat function is held by ocher judicial bodies, tutional changes. including the Council of Stace, France's top admin- istrative court. In 2016, the Council of State struck THE JUDICIARY As in most democracies, the down laws passed by numerous local governments French judiciary is divided into several branches, chat would have banned the wearing of the "bur- including civil, criminal, and administrative. The kini" (a swimsuit designed to cover virtually the French judicial system is based on continental entire body) on beaches (see "Challenges to French European code law, in which laws are derived from National Identity and the Rise of the Nationalist detailed legal codes rather than from precedent (as Right," in Current Issues, p. 301). is the case with common law systems used in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom). During Napoleon's rule, French laws were system- THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM atically codified, and much of that original code France's electoral system is majoricarian rather than remains in place today. The role of judges is simply proportional. Thus, it resembles systems in the to interpret and apply those codes. Consequently, United Scares, Canada, and the United Kingdom judges in France have less discretion and autonomy more than other systems in continental Europe. than those in common law systems. However, the use of a two-round runoff between The French court system also operates very candidates distinguishes it from the plurality-based differently from that in the United States or Can- system found in those countries. French presidents ada. Judges play a much greater role in determin- are directly elected in two rounds of voting every ing whether charges should be brought, and they five years. Unless a candidate gees over 50 percent assume many of the roles of prosecuting attor- of the vote in the first round (which has never hap- neys. In France, judges, not lawyers, question and pened in the Fifth Republic), a second round of bal- cross-examine witnesses. loting two weeks lacer pies the top two candidates Because the 1958 constitution created a semi- against each ocher. presidential system with built-in potential for dead- France also employs a two-round electoral sys- lock of the legislature and the executive, the Fifth tem for its single-member district (SMD) elections Republic also created a Constitutional Council co of members of the National Assembly. In each settle constitutional disputes.7 The Constitutional district, candidates with over 12.5 percent of the Council is composed of nine members who are vote face off in a second round of balloting (again, appointed for a single nine-year term by the presi- unless a candidate gains over 50 percent of the vote dent and heads of the National Assembly and Senat. in the first round). During the socialise administra- Former presidents of France also serve as lifetime tion of Fran~ois Mitterrand, France experimented members of the council. The council is empowered with proportional representation for lower house to rule on any constitutional matter, so long as there elections, as it had in the Fourth Republic, but is a request from the government, the president, or at then returned co SMDs two years later.8 Using two lease 60 members of either house of the legislature. rounds of voting does ensure chat winning candi- In its early years, the Constitutional Council dates have a majority of the vote in each district, but tended to act rarely, and usually backed presiden- it still delivers disproportionate outcomes common tial actions. Buoyed by very high approval ratings, in SMD elections. In 2017, for example, President in recent decades, however, it has shown more Macron's party won 53 percent of the lower house independence. For example, in 2008, it rejected seats with only 43 percent of the nationwide vote. legislation that would have allowed for the indef- By using two rounds of voting for presiden- inite imprisonment of dangerous criminals even tial and lower house elections, the French system Political Regime 287 i  encourages more parties and candidates than do Corsica is a rare exception). Whereas this is a gen- SMD S}'Stems in Canada, the United Kingdom, or erally accurate picture, France also has a long his- the United States. At the same time, the second tory oflocalism and regionalism that should not be round of elections still uses a winner-take-all for- discounted, and three levels of local government- mat, and the 12.5 percent threshold for entry into region, department, and commune-have enjoyed the second round of legislative elections severely increasing power over time.9 limits the number of parties that actually win. The France has 18 regions, five of which are overseas. National Front, for example, won nearly 5 percent The regions' primary responsibilities are regional of the vote in the first round of the 2007 elections, planning and economic development. The regions but not a single seat. The complexity of a two-round are led by a council that is elected every six years. system can create a rather confusing electoral land- One level below, 96 departments (plus five over- scape because parties and individuals compete for seas territories) have responsibility for such areas seats while nor necessarily expecting chat they can as health services and infrastructure. For nearly two win, but rather that a good showing in the first centuries, power in each department resided with a round can translate into leverage to be used against prefect appointed by the central government, but more powerful parties. Small parties, coalitions, or a series of reforms in 1982 transferred many of the candidates may throw their support behind a stron- prefects' powers to directly elected departmental ger rival as part of a political deal. councils, representing over 2,000 constituencies called cantons. Since 2013, each canton elects a pair REFERENDA of representatives to the department councils, and the pair must consist of a man and woman. Finally, The conscicucion of the Fifth Republic also allows at the municipal level there are communes made up the president to call national referenda. When de of directly elected councils and mayors who handle Gaulle lost a 1969 referendum aimed at reform- the main tasks of these communities. ing the upper house of the legislature, he resigned. Since the 1982 reforms, local governments have Since then, referenda have been used less frequently, been given some control over taxes and revenues, though they are often used regarding changes co the and as a result their powers have slowly grown. European Union. Mose recently, in 2005, President Chirac submitted a proposed European constitu- However, their share of the budgetary pie remains tion to a referendum. Voters delivered a resounding very small. A reform passed in 2010 will gradually rejection of the document despite Chirac's support streamline and reduce the layers and size of French for it. local government. Local governments have decried this project as an attempt to recentralize the coun- try, but the national government has retorted that LOCAL GOVERNMENT the current system is too cumbersome and costly. France is usually considered a prototypical unitary Local elections in France often serve as a midterm state-all power is concentrated in Paris, the capital bellwether of sitting governments. The March 2015 and largest city. Furthermore, compared with most local elections, in which the governing Socialists of its neighbors, it has experienced relatively little finished third behind the conservatives and the far separatism or demands for greater regional auton- right, were viewed as a stinging rebuke to President omy (an independence movement on the island of Hollande's government. Political Conflict and Competition THE PARTY SYSTEM AND ELECTIONS a bipolar alternation of coalitions of the center By the 1960s, the badly fragmented party sys rem right and the center left. The political bloc of the of the Fourth Republic had been replaced by a right was composed mainly of the Rally for the less fragmented multiparty system chat featured Republic (llPR) and the Union for a Popular 288 FRANCE Movement (UMP). The political bloc of the left Front. The Socialises and the Republicans both was composed mainly of the French Communist performed very poorly. As an additional shock to Party (PCF) and the French Socialist Party (PS). France's political party system, Macron's REM won By the lace 1970s, each coalition earned about half an absolute majority in the National Assembly, and the vote in French elections. The four major parties France's major parties of the right and left suffered together won over 90 percent of the vote. The elec- serious losses. toral system helped co ensure chis dominance of the two major blocs because the SMD system, with its THE FRENCH LEFT Since the 1970s, the Social- two rounds of voting, required coalition building in ise Party (PS) has been the dominant party of the the second round. French left, but its dominance was challenged by Since the 1980s, the four-party, two-bloc sys- the presidential elections of2017. 11 Formed in 1905, tem has been in transition. One important ideolog- the PS was also long divided into social-democratic ical change has been the spectacular demise of the and Marxist camps. In the 1930s, the Socialists PCF on the left and the emergence of the National were elected to power and led a brief and ill-fared Front (FN) (renamed National Rally in 2018), on government. After World War II, the Socialise Party the right. The 2017 presidential elections may por- reemerged, though it regularly gained fewer votes tend the demise of the two-bloc system chat has than the Communists. In the early years of the been in place for almost 40 years. 10 Neither of the Fifth Republic, the Socialist Party essentially dis- two finalises for the French presidency represented a appeared until being refounded in 1969 as a much major party. Emmanuel Macron, a centrist running more moderate force. This strategy was vindicated under the banner of the new centrist La Republique by the 1981 election of Fran\ois Mitterrand to En Marche! (Republic Onward!, REM) party, handily the presidency; he was the first leftist president of defeated Marine Le Pen, from the far-right National the Fifth Republic. Mitterrand's long presidency French Presidential Elections, 2017 FIRST ROUND: APRIL 22-23, 2017 CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES(%) Emmanuel Macron Republic Onward! (center) 24.0 Marine Le Pen National Front (right) 21.3 Franc;ois Fillon Republicans (center-right) 20.0 Jean-Luc Melenchon Indomitable France (left) 19.5 Benoit Hamon Socialist Party (center-left) 6.4 Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Republic Arise (center-right) 4.7 Others 4.1 Total 100 SECOND ROUND: MAY 6-7, 2017 CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES(%) Emmanuel Macron Republic Onward! (center) 66.1 Marine Le Pen National Front (right) 33.9 Total 100 Source: French Ministry of the Interior, www.lnterleur.gouv.fr (accessed 1V26/19). Political Conflict and Competition 289  ( 1981-95) was marred by allegations of corruption, the European Parliament, achieving its best result by his party's loss of its legislative majority in 1986, ever in the 2019 European elections, when it won and his need co cohabit with a conservative prime over 13 percent of the vote. minister during most of his two terms in office. The 2012 election of President Fran~ois HoUande and THE FRENCH RIGHT The right dominated the the Socialists' absolute majority in the legislature politics of the Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1981 proved to be a short-lived victory. By 2017 the PS under presidents de Gaulle, Pompidou, and Gis- had lost the presidency and its majority in the leg- card d'Estaing. But since de Gaulle never associated islature, losing all but 30 of its seats in the lower himself with any party, his heirs created various house in the June legislative elections. competing parties of the right that were frequently The Communist Party (PCF) was the dominant divided by personality and presidential ambitions. party of chc French left after World War II, but in The two most important forces were the Rally for 2017 che Communises won only 10 of 577 seats in the Republic, created by Jacques Chirac, and the the legislature. Union for French Democracy (UDF), an alliance Although ocher leftist parties exist in France, of five center-right parties founded by Chirac's rival, none of chem has much clout. France's environmen- former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. These tal parry, Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), won parties differed in part over the role of the state only a single seat in the 2017 legislative elections, and their view of the European Union, but over the but it has performed better in French elections to years, the differences mostly disappeared. ¼ r 1. / ' ¼ ( , -?:._-.- ~· ;· ,,. ~.,,.. :;,J :t". ' I ~ /· I 1 1 ,, '. ~ t I 'J ij ,, '. Sib: ~ fj ~- ~ ~-_:..- ·=~ ~ -~~ n \· · · ~ f '~. -~ - -==:_:. 3~~. --=--__.-:.-.-:.-: t:t~ ----·... *~-..··- - ~~:-~:.:~~ ~ -·--~ - ~~~== i~~~r~~~; ~✓ 't1Jt ,0,., U.rt1;°U11a ·.- ;.. President Emmanuel Macron's plans to reform France's tax system provoked a mass uprising that harkened back to the French Revolution. 290 FRANCE  In 2002, President Chirac encouraged most of vote in 1986, oucpolled the French Communist the center right co cohere as a single party, the Union Party, and won its first seats in the lower house (it for a Popular Movement (UMP). 12 Compared with won 35 seats). In the 2002 presidential elections, Le de Gaulle's eclectic blend of populism and nation- Pen beneficed from the divided votes among vari- alism, the UMP behaves much more like a classical ous leftist candidates and made it into a runoff conservative party with its pro-business, pro-free with President Chirac. In the second round, he won market, and socially conservative outlook. During less than 20 percent of the vote as voters recoiled the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, the UMP con- from the possibility of a Le Pen presidency. But the tinued to move in the direction of a free market, factors that make the National Front a success, par- though it still supported a relatively strong role for ticularly fears over immigration, remain. the scate. 13 Sarkozy's earliest reforms included a vir- The National Front leadership was revived tual elimination of the inheritance tax and a reduc- with the election of Le Pen's daughter, Marine Le tion in taxes on businesses, steps that the president Pen, to the top leadership position of the party in viewed as necessary to stimulate economic growth 2011. She has reemphasized anti globalization and and employment (but the French left viewed the Euroskepticism as central values of the parry while reforms as favoring the well-off). His administra- distancing the FN from the more xenophobic and tion's proposals to reform the French university provocative statements of her less temperate father and health systems were also controversial and (see "Challenges to French National Identity and provoked widespread protests. Sarkozy raised the the Rise of the Nationalist Right," in Current Issues, retirement age from 60 to 62, made it easier for p. 301). 14 In2018 Le Pen renamed the party National firms to employ workers beyond the 35-hour work Rally (RN), as a way of distancing the parry from its week, and slashed employment in the public sector. more extreme-right past, but also appropriating the Sarkozy also sought to improve relations with the term "Rally'' that had been associated with one of United States and sent additional French forces to the main Gaullist parties. support the United States-led war in Afghanistan. Under Marine Le Pen, the newly renamed RN Following Sarkozy's loss in the 2012 presiden- remains a rightist, nationalist, and socially conser- tial election, che UMP experienced a period of inter- vative political party, but she has had some success nal fragmentation. Sarkozy announced his return in moving the party closer to the mainstream of to politics in 2014 and was elected UMP chair- French politics. In the 2012 electoral campaign, she man. Under his leadership, the UMP was renamed advocated for France to abandon the euro as well the Republicans, and his party won a majority of as restore the retirement age of 60 (Sarkozy had regional offices in the March 2015 elections. In the raised it to 62). At the same time, she pledged to 2016 Republican presidential primary, Fran~ois slash legal immigration and deport foreigners con- Filion, a former prime minister under Sarkozy, victed of crimes while dramatically beefing up law defeated his former boss and a more moderate enforcement (she promised a referendum on insti- former prime minister for the nomination. Fillon tuting the death penalty). In the 2012 presidential won only 20 percent of the vote and failed to make elections, Marine Le Pen won about 18 percent of it into the second round of the 2017 elections. The the vote in the first round of elections. It was a his- Republicans also fared poorly in the 2017 legisla- toric high for the FN, and in legislative elections the tive elections, losing 82 seats, but still remained the FN established itself as the third-largest political largest opposition force in the legislature. force after the PS and the UMP. In May 2014, the Unity among France's two main conservative unthinkable occurred: the FN won the European parties was partly spurred by the emergence and elections with 25 percent of the vote, defeating both surprising success of the National Front (FN) on the UMP and the PS and quadrupling its share of the far right. Until the early 1980s, the FN was a the votes compared with its 2009 European Parlia- tiny fringe party that never attracted more than 1 ment result. percent of the vote. Its emergence as a serious polit- As part of her plan to make the FN more accept- ical contender, initially at the local level, was rooted able to mainstream French voters, Marine Le Pen in its advocacy of a reduction in immigration and expelled her father from the party in August 2015 the expulsion of illegal immigrants. Led by the fiery after he made a series of comments that were Jean-Marie Le Pen, it won about 10 percent of the viewed as racist and xenophobic. This move, and Political Conmct and Competition 291  the 20 I 5 and 20 I 6 terrorist attacks, appear to was mired in corruption scandals. The election of have bolstered popular support for the FN. In the Emmanuel Macron could portend the emergence most recent local elections, the FN placed second of a new political center in France and perhaps a to the Republicans, handily beating the govern- broader realignment of French politics. ing Socialists. Le Pen placed second in the first Like most French presidents, Macron was round of the 2017 presidential elections, winning trained as a civil servant at the prestigious Ecole just over 21 percent of the vote. Facing opposition Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and worked in from most of the parties in the first round, she was the French Ministry of Economy. 15 After leaving the able to win just under 34 percent of the vote in the government to work as an investment banker, he second round. In the 2017 legislative elections, the returned to politics to work as an advisor to Social- Narional Front won only eight sears, a gain of six ist president Hollande. In 2014 Hollande appointed from the previous election, but an outcome that him economics minister, and he was responsible for was far below expectations. In the 2019 European the passage of a series of labor reforms that were Parliament elections, the newly christened RN won bitterly opposed by French trade unions. Macron the most votes of any French parry, winning almost was briefly a member the Socialist Parry bur by a quarter of the vote. 2015 identified himself as an independent. In 2016 Macron quit the government and founded La THE FRENCH CENTER By 2017 both the Social- Republique en Marchel (Republic Onward!, REM) ists and mainstream conservatives had been dis- as a centrist political party to support his presiden- credited. Hollande's Socialist government was tial bid. The party declared itself to be free-market deeply unpopular, and the Socialist Party selected a friendly, socially progressive, and pro-European member of the party's far left as its standard bearer. Union. The candidate for the conservative Republicans During the 2017 presidential campaign Macron was attacked by much of the French left as unsym- pathetic to workers and beholden to the corporate world. Rightists attacked his strong support for the European Union, his advocacy of free trade, and his progressive stance on social positions. At the same time, his campaign attracted support from more centrist Socialists and conservatives. His youth (at 39 he was the youngest French president ever elected), his relative inexperience, and his vague campaign platform make Macron and his REM party unknown quantities in the context of the pre- viously stable French political parry system. Macron was able to quickly recruit members to run for legis- lative office, drawing on a core ofyoung supporters. Half of REM's candidates had never run for elective office, and half were women. Despite predictions to the contrary, REM won a majority in the National Assembly, shocking the political establishment. Macron appointed Edouard Philippe, a mem- ber of the conservative Republican Parry, as his prime minister. Like Macron, Philippe was trained at France's elite administrative schools, spent time The 2017 election of centrist Emmanuel Macron (right) was in the business sector, briefly held membership in a shock to the established parties to his right and left. Al- the Socialist Party, and had relatively little experi- though Macron had briefly been a member of the Socialist ence in government. Half the members of Macron's Party, he selected a member of the conservative opposi- first cabinet were women, and the new president tion, Edouard Philippe (left), to be his first prime minister. appointed members from both the center right and center left. 292 FRANCE French National Assembly Elections, 2012 and 2017 2012 2017 %VOTE % SEATS # SEATS %VOTE % SEATS # SEATS (FIRST (SECOND (SECOND (FIRST (SECOND (SECOND PARTY ROUND) ROUND) ROUND) ROUND) ROUND) ROUND) Republic Onward! 28.2 53.0 306 Republicans 26.2 33.6 194 15.8 19.4 112 (previously the Union for a Popular Movement) Socialist Party 29.2 48.5 280 7.4 5.2 30 Other parties of the 9.6 10.6 61 20.9 12.8 45 left Other parties of the 2.4 6.1 35 7.3 1.4 8 right National Front 13.8 0.4 2 13.2 1.4 8 Others 18.8 0.8 5 7.2 6.8 68 Total 100 100 577 100 100 577 "Renamed National Rally (RN) in 2018. Source: French Ministry of the Interior, www.interleur.gouv.fr (accessed 11/26/19). Despite winning the presidency and a legisla- action over organized lobbying. Nevertheless, trade tive majority, Macron and his REM have struggled unions and organizations representing private to govern. Macron's economic reform proposals enterprise are two important elements of civil soci- ignited the yellow vests movement, forcing the ety chat are worth discussing in detail. president to water down or withdraw some of them. An April 2019 poll showed that about 70 percent of LABOR UNIONS Observers of French politics, French respondents viewed Macron unfavorably. particularly its numerous strikes, commonly speak For the moment, though, Macron and his politi- of how powerful the French labor unions are. This cal party have co-opted moderate former Socialists view is misleading. In fact, French labor unions have and Republicans, weakening both of them, but a long history of being weak and fractious. Less strengthening the far-right National Rally. than 9 percent of the French workforce belongs co a union, one of the lowest races in Europe. 16 And unlike the powerful trade unions found elsewhere CIVIL SOCIETY on the continent, French labor unions usually have As early as the 1830s, the French scholar Alexis de been divided along partisan lines. Tocqueville noted the weakness of French civil asso- Among the most powerful French union con- ciations. Most scholars argue chat French interest federations is the General Confederation of Labor groups and associations remain weaker than those (CGT), historically linked co the Communist Party in most advanced democracies, a function of the (PCF). Its leadership includes many Communist powerful state and the emphasis on so-called mass Party members, but many non-Communists are Political Conflict and Compe tition 293  part of the general membership. The CGT was long Businesses (MEDEF}, and smaller firms are rep- France's most powerful union, but its power and resented by the General Confederation of Small- membership have dwindled, much as the French and Medium-Size Businesses (CPME}. Both have Communist Parry has become a shadow of its former tended to support lower taxes on business, more self. Today, the confederation members represent flexible laws to regulate the hiring and firing of about a quarter of the unionized workforce (and only workers, and a reduced role for government in the about 3 percent of all workers are CGT members). economy. Business has generally supported parties In contrast, the French Democratic Labor on the right, such as the UMP. Since large num- Confederation (CFDT) and Force Ouvriere (FO} bers of France's business leaders are graduates of have tended to have more centrist or anticommu- the ENA, known as enarques, they commonly move nist orientations. The CFDT is roughly equal in between the civil service and elected or appointed strength to the CGT, and the FO is slightly smaller. political office. As a result, French business often A number of other independent unions exist out- has privileged access to the state bureaucracy. Not side of these larger confederations, and some of surprisingly, MEDEF has been a strong supporter them, like the national teachers' union, have waged of economic reforms; CPME has been less enthusi- fierce battles against government reform efforts. In astic, fearing that deregulation will remove many of France, more than one trade union can represent the barriers that currently protect small businesses workers in French firms, pitting competing unions from competition. against each other (in many countries, workers select a single union to represent them). ORGANIZED RELIGION Unlike labor unions and Paradoxically, the weakness and fragmentation private business firms, organized religious institu- of French unions partially explain the large num- tions have had less of a role in French civil society. ber of strikes that occur in France. More powerful France is formally a Catholic nation, and despite unions could effectively engage in productive bar- minorities of Muslims, Protestants, and Jews, well gaining with employers or the government, but over half of the French are nominally Catholics. Yet French unions lack this authority. Instead, they even with the predominance of a single religion, resort to public demonstrations and work stop- France has long been an anticlerical society. This pages as a vital tool to express discontent, a tactic trait daces back to the revolution, when people saw that capitalizes on the French tendency toward the Church as a tool of monarchical power.17 mass action and public protest. This was the case in Church and state have been formally separate the spring of 2016, when French unions, led by the since 1905 under what is known as lai'cite (roughly CGT, staged a wave of strikes to protest the socialist translated as "secularism"). Under lrucice, no religion government's labor law reform, which would make can receive state support, and religious education is it easier for French firms to fire workers and weaken restricted. The Church continues to play a role in the power of unions. The CFDT backed the socialist important social rituals (marriages, births, funerals) government and its proposed reforms, highlighting but nor in the daily lives of most French citizens. the fragmentation of the French labor movement. The Church lacks an important or central role in Despite their weakness, unions continue to play French politics, which has no Christian democratic a key role in French society and in the management parry as found in other Catholic countries such as of the country's major welfare organizations (health Italy or Germany. The Church can, however, rally care, retirement, and social security}. French law gives to the defense of its own institutional issues: in the unions the right to represent all workers in firms 1980s, church opposition forced the socialist gov- that employ over 50 employees, whether or nor the ernment to back away from plans co impose stricter workers are union members. They are also strongly government control over religious schools. represented in France's public-sector workforce and As the Catholic Church has waned in power, are a power to reckon with when any French govern- other religions, particularly Islam, have grown. ment attempts to reform welfare benefits. France has thus seen a rapid growth in mosques and Islamic educational and cultural institutions, PRIVATE ENTERPRISE Compared with French something that has made many French citizens ner- labor, the business sector is well organized. Large vous. For many of these institutions, the Union of firms arc represented by the Movement of French Islamic Organizations aces as an umbrella group. 294 FRANCE Protesters hold a sign bearing the portrait of French president Emmanuel Macron and reading " Dog of MEDEF" at a demonstration on April 19, 2018, in Marseille, France. The demonstration was part of a day of protest called by the Gen- eral Confederation of Labor (CGT) in solidarity with a rail strike and student sit-in against the French president's policies. In 2002, the government created the French Coun- This council has had limited success in building cil of the Muslim Faith co ace as an intermediary scare-faith relations, and tensions remain, some of between the government and Muslim leaders. which we discuss next. Society ETHNIC AND NATIONAL IDENTITY particularly Basques and Corsicans, have retained In modern times, the French have tended co view stronger language and cultural ties. themselves as ethnically homogeneous. How- Assimilation was in pare connected to the par- ever, historically this was not the case, and recent ticular role the French state played in the develop- trends have challenged chat notion. In centuries ment of national identity. An important facet of the past, many parts of France maintained distinct French Revolution was the idea of a set of univer- ethnic identities char included their own languages sal rights that identified people as citizens rather I and cultures: Gascon, Savoyard, Occitan, Basque, than subjects of the state. This form of republican- and Breton are just a few. Over time, these unique ism was unlike that of the American Revolution l communities were largely assimilated into a single where democracy was predicated on an individu- French identity, though certain ethnic groups, alism that demanded federalism and a state with t Society 295  Ethnic Groups Religions North African and Sub-Saharan African Other I 8% C 2% "- --/- ~ / \. 24% ' Muslim ( : c·- - - L_Lv· I 9% -:,_7' Christian (overwhelmingly French Buddhist~ \ ~ Roman Catholic) 90% 1% ~~ 64% Jewish ( 1% Other 1% lower autonomy and capacity. French revolution- education. French citizens of foreign ongm have aries believed in the necessity of a powerful state virtually no representation in the country's politi- to destroy the institutions of the past (including cal class, and according to one study, France lags ethnic identit:y) and to serve the people's general far behind its European counterparts in this area.20 interests in building the future_ A powerful state Many immigrants are concentrated in housing thus became a key instrument in solidifying and projects on the outskirts of Paris and other large expressing French national identity and patriotism cities, where they have poor social services, limited in a way rhat did not occur in the United States. 18 employment opportunities, and little access to In contrast to U.S. policy, in France, rivals for pub- transportation. This ghettoization compounds the lic loyalty were eradicated or brought under the sense of disconnect from French life and has led to control of the state. violence. In 2005, France saw a month of heavy riot- This relationship between state and nation is ing across its immigrant suburbs, culminating in now being challenged by changes in both religious a state of emergency and approximately $200 mil- and ethnic identity. In the past, la"icite served to lion in damages. A second set of riots, not as large subordinate religious identity to the state, and eth- though more violent, occurred in 2007. nic identities were downgraded through assimila- In the debate over immigration, the future of tion and nationalism. In fact, French identity is so the Muslim community takes center stage. Cur- primary that the national census and opinion sur- rently, France has the largest Muslim population veys cannot, by law, record such basic information in Europe outside of Turkey; it is estimated at 5 as ethnicity and religion (the data above on religion to 6 million people (approximately 9 percent of and ethnic identity are therefore inexact estimates). the population, including foreign born and those However, ethnic and religious identities are born in France). The growth of a large Muslim pop- becoming more salient. In the past few decades, ulation has been disconcerting for a country that France has seen an influx of people from outside historically has been overwhelmingly Catholic, if Europe, notably from Africa, the Middle East, now only nominally so. This situation, not unlike and Southeast Asia. French citizens of foreign ori- that of other Western countries, is compounded by gin today make up perhaps as much as a fifth to a the particular position of the French state. Lakire quarter of the population} 9 As in many countries, means that Muslims are expected to place their immigrants to France and their children often faith below that of national and patriotic identity find themselves marginalized due to persistent as part of the assimilation process. Yet many Mus- discrimination, language barriers, and/or a lack of lims believe that the French state should be more , 296 FRANCE  Religion and Morality Is it necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values? Percentage saying yes: COUNTRY PERCENTAGE COUNTRY PERCENTAGE Nigeria 91 Japan 42 Brazil 86 Russia 38 South Africa 75 Germany 33 India 70 United Kingdom 20 United States 53 France 15 Mexico 52 Note: Data on Iran and China not available. Source: Pew Center for the People and the Press, 2011 and 2013. accommodating to their needs, rather than vice increased resmcnons on immigration, greater versa. Furthermore, in the face of persistent mar- emphasis on integrating immigrant populations, ginalization, many Muslims turn co their faith as a and increased emphasis on so-called law and order source of identity and meaning. 21 (which is widely understood co mean a focus on In the past few years, one prominent example of crime committed by immigrants and their off- chis conflict has been over the head scarf. Growing spring and is, to many observers, a not particu- expressions of Muslim identity have been a chal- larly subtle expression of racism). In 2009, Sarkozy lenge co la"icice-in particular, whether girls can wear proposed a national debate on "what it means co a head scarf in public schools. Many French on both be French." Bue the debate led co an outpouring the left and right have argued chat educational insti- of anti-immigrant sentiment, and the government tutions, as pare of the state, cannot allow the wear- ing of the head scarf without violating the principle put a stop co the initiacive. 22 Sarkozy continued co highlight the challenges of immigration during the f of lakite. After a long discussion, France passed a 2012 election campaign, partly in an attempt co law in 2004 chat forbade the wearing of any "con- spicuous religious symbol" in schools, whatever the Support for Restricting Public faith. In 2011, the French government went further, Wearing of the Face Veil in France banning full-face veils in public and arguing chat such coverings promote separatism. While che law generated protest, it has not been much enforced. Whether such steps will help bring minorities into the mainstream or further marginalize chem is open Should be completely to debate. Many French point out that the United banned in Kingdom's much more multicultural approach-for public example, female Muslims in the British police force. '-, 33% __ ______ may wear head scarves-has not prevented similar problems of marginalization, and chat the Muslim Should be ',"-, community in the United Kingdom is much more / banned in certain - radicalized than it is in France. blic places 31% How is France resolving these conflicts over immigration and religion? Under President Sar- kozy, the government emphasized the need for Source: TNS-Sofres Survey, 2010. Society 297 l.- - ·- -...-,:; --- A woman wearing a burkini walks in the water on a beach in Marseille, France, on August 27, 2016, the day after the country's highest administrative court suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits that outraged many Muslims. defend the UMP against the rising National Front. in other European countries, where a few coherent Socialist president Hollande supported the ban on and persistent parties tend to dominate the politi- head scarves and proposed other anti-immigration cal scene. Divisive historical events, the weakness of measures traditionally advocated by the right. The civil society, the importance of the state, de Gaulle's January 2015 attacks in Paris by French Islamist hostility toward political parties, the two-round terrorists on the satirical weekly Charlie Hcbdo, the electoral system, and semi-presidentialism have all November 2015 attacks in Paris, and the July 2016 played a part in creating a system in which individ- terrorist attack in Nice heightened the tension ual political leaders, rather than ideological group- between the French commitment to lakite and its ings, have been central. growing Muslim minority. In response to those As a result, although we can speak generally of attacks, millions of French citizens took co the left and right, social democratic or liberal, in fact, streets to protest Islamist terrorism. the ideological divisions are much more diverse and reflect a range of experiences, such as the bat- tles over the French Revolution and the role of the IDEOLOGY AND POLITICAL CULTURE Catholic Church in French life. In many cases, these The role ofthe state in shaping French national iden- values cannot be classified as an ideology at all but tity can be seen in the country's ideological land- rather fall under the term populism, or a set of scape and political culture. Ideological divisions in ideas including faith in the common man and sus- France are much more fragmented than they are picion of organized power. From the revolution co 298 FRANCE Napoleon to de Gaulle, French leaders have often France regularly averages more than 1,000 workers'