I.

Historical Foundations

Evolution of the State

First French Colonial Empire

The Americas
Africa and Asia
Colonial conflict with the Britain
Second French Colonial Empire
Napoleon III: 185270
New Caledonia becomes a French possession (185354)
Colonization of Senegal (185465)
Intervention in China (185860)
France in Korea and Japan (186668)
France in Indochina and the Pacific (185870)
Intervention in Syria and Lebanon (186061)
Algeria
French Intervention in Mexico (186267)

First French Colonial Empire

The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following
centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere.
France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands,
and in South America. Most colonies were developed to export products such as fish, sugar, and
furs.
North America and South America
In Senegal in West Africa, the French began to establish trading posts along the coast in 1624. In
1664, the French East India Company was established to compete for trade in the east. With the
decay of the Ottoman Empire, in 1830 the French seized Algiers, thus beginning the colonization
of French North Africa.
In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and Britain,
which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of the first French colonial empire and the
near complete expulsion of France from the Americas.

Second French Colonial Empire

Napoleon III doubled the area of the French overseas Empire; he established French rule in New
Caledonia, and Cochinchina, established a protectorate in Cambodia (1863); and colonized parts
of Africa.
On 24 September 1853, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia
and Port-de-France (Nouma) was founded 25 June 1854. A few dozen free settlers settled on
the west coast in the following years, but New Caledonia became a penal colony and, from the
1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners
were sent to New Caledonia.
The presence of France in Senegal was limited to a trading post on the island of Goree, a narrow
strip on the coast, the town of Saint-Louis, and a handful of trading posts in the interior. Faidherbe
built a series of forts along the Senegal River, formed alliances with leaders in the interior, and
sent expeditions against those who resisted French rule.
In 1857, after the murder of a French priest and the arrest by the Chinese police of the crew of a
 British merchant ship, Napoleon III joined together with Great Britain to form a military expedition
to punish the Chinese government.
French diplomats in China learned that French priests had been arrested and executed in Korea,
a country which had had no diplomatic or commercial contact with Europe or America.
Napoleon III also acted to increase the French presence in Indochina. An important factor in his
decision was the belief that France risked becoming a second-rate power by not expanding its
influence in East Asia. Deeper down was the sense that France owed the world a civilizing
mission.
In the spring of 1860, a war broke out in Lebanon, then part of the Ottoman Empire, between the
quasi-Muslim Druze population and the Maronite Christians. The Ottoman authorities in Lebanon
could not stop the violence, and it spread into neighboring Syria, with the massacre of many
Christians.
Algeria had been formally under French rule since 1830, but only in 1852 was the country entirely
conquered.
In December 1862, the conservative Mexican government was overthrown by Benito Juarez, who
established a secular state and refused to pay the internal and external debts of the old
government. France was the largest owner of the debt, owed 135 million gold francs of the 260
million francs total.

Decentralization of powers

Employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and
institutional organisation of France.
Decentralisation in France can be divided into three categories:
Institutional decentralisation
Territorial decentralisation
Functional decentralisation

Political Institutions

Legislative Body
National Assembly
Senate
Executive Body
President
Prime minister
Cabinet
Judicial Body
Judicial courts
Administrative courts
Constitutional Council
Financial courts
Local government
 II. Political Culture

Citizens and the State

Population: 64,581,443
Capital: Paris
National Language: French
Population growth rate: 0.5%
Life Expectancy: Male: 78 years old
Female: 82 years old
Ethnic Groups: Basque, Africans, Germans, Jewish, Muslims, Polish, Roma, Southeast Asians (the
French Indochinese)

In rural areas the French people have kept their traditions and it is not uncommon to see the elder
men of the towns and villages playing boules in the squares of the town.
Food forms a large part of French culture and mealtimes are taken very seriously, so much so
that many people take a two hour lunch.
Frances is known for its cafe culture. Many towns and cities have their streets lined with cafes of
all descriptions and these are popular meeting places, particularly among the younger generation,
who often prefer this type of night out to a bar or nightclub.
Greetings are normally handshakes in formal situations such as work, but those who know each
other better will greet each other by kissing once on each cheek.
The family is the central part of French society and culture and the extended family is very
important.
The French are very private people and behave differently with people they do not know and are
not sure of.
They have old-fashioned values and treat elders and those they have only just met with respect.
When you first meet people it is not acceptable to just use each others first names and you
should use their surname until you are invited to use their first name.
The traditional French meal pattern is to eat a light breakfast, a large lunch, and a somewhat
lighter dinner. French wines are often served with lunch or dinner.
The French enjoy a wide range of sports and recreational activities. Millions of people belong to
sports clubs, the most common of which are devoted to soccer, tennis, a bowling game called
boules, and basketball. The most popular professional sports are soccer and bicycle racing.

Globalization: Information Dissemination

France has enjoyed greater access to the global savings pool, a dynamic that has helped fuel
investment in France and boost foreign ownership of French equities.
Employment growth has slowed; labor regulations remain a concern, but new legislation is
promising and greater cross border trade/investment has on balance helped create jobs.
A country whose leading companies are now among the best in the world, which has managed to
transform its agricultural sector into an ultramodern instrument of production and export.
France needs to raise its technological capabilities and leverage existing technical skills. Greater
dispersion of technology has helped boost greater trade in services and allowed companies in
France to access more of the global technology skills of developing nations.
 France remains one of the largest and most competitive trading entities in the world.
Globalization has produced strong gains in both manufacturing and services trade. Export growth
to developing nations has been notably strong, benefiting various companies and industries.
France is one of the oldest nations on Earth and the most ethnically diverse country in Europe.
These deep and broad influences have made France a world leader throughout history in nearly
all aspects of culture, including cuisine, wine-making, politics, philosophy, music, art, film, fashion,
literature, and sports.
France is also known for its contribution to the arts with many different types of architecture and
the country is the birthplace of many different schools of artists, including Impressionism and
Surrealism.

Role of Religion, Ethnicity and Social Class to Public Making

France is officially a secular country so all those who live there are free to practise whichever
religion they want to.
In the state education sector, religion and religious matters are frequently considered taboo
subjects; however, in recent years this side-lining of religion has been questioned in the face of
the increasing number of Muslims in modern France.
There are no religious education classes in French state schools, and no acts of worship, national
programmes now state the requirement to make pupils aware of the religious aspects of French
history art and culture.

System of Checks and Balances

The system of checks and balances makes sure one branch of our government isn't more
powerful than another. This system is a part of the American Constitution. An example of checks
and balances would be the branches of our government.
The executive branch has the power to veto any of those laws, making it hard for those laws to
get passed. The executive branch chooses the judges
The legislative branch is in charge of making laws. The legislative branch also has the power to
remove a president or judge if they aren't doing the duties of their job right and the legislative
branch approves the executive branch's choice
The judicial branch can say the law is unconstitutional; making sure the law is not passed.

Public Policy and Issues

The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals but
the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications.