FRANCE

CANDELARIA, GUAZON
 5 REPUBLICS & 2 EMPIRES

• First Republic was ended (1803) by Napoleon’s First Empire

• Second Republic was ended (1851) by Napoleon III’s Second Empire
• Third Republic was ended (1940) by German occupation
• Fourth Republic (1946 - 1958)
FOURTH REPUBLIC (1946 - 1958)

• Crises of the Fourth Republic

• 24 governments in 12 years
• Vietnam
• Algeria
FIFTH REPUBLIC (1958 - )

• Charles de Gaulle
• submitted new constitution for public approval
• offered to remedy previous failings
- power of the executive offices
- president and prime minister
- constraints on Parliament
1958 CONSTITUTION

• The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called
the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.
FRANCE REGIME

• The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic.

The executive branch of the French Government has two leaders: the President of the
Republic (currently Emmanuel Macron) who is head of state and is elected for a 5-year
term, and the Prime Minister, leads the Government.
PRESIDENT’S POWER

• Head of state
• appoint prime minister
• appoint ministers
• dissolve the National Assembly
• submit legislation to referendum
• on proposal of government or Parliament
• emergency power (up to 6 months)
• Commander-in-chief of the armed forces
PARLIAMENT

• Parliament is formed of two assemblies:

- the Senate is elected by indirect universal suffrage for a six-year term (reduced from nine
years in 2003). The house is renewable by one-third every three years. The last election
took place in September 2014.
- the National Assembly’s members (deputies) are elected by direct universal suffrage for a
five-year term. The most recent general election was held in June 2012. An illustration of
the National Assembly’s political groups is available here.
THE SENATE

- The Senate has 348 senators affiliated with the following groups.
• Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) group: 143
• Socialiste et Apparentés group: 112
• Union des Démocrates et Indépendents group: 42
• Communiste, Républicain et Citoyen group: 18
• Rassemblement Démocratique et Social Européen (RDSE) group: 13
• Ecologiste group: 10
• Non-affiliated: 9
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

• The National Assembly is made up of 577 deputies.

CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL

• The Constitutional Council, composed of nine members, is responsible in particular for

overseeing the proper functioning of elections and for ruling on the constitutionality of
organic laws and legislation submitted to it.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM

- There are three types of courts

• specialized courts (juvenile courts, conseils des prud’hommes for industrial relations disputes, commercial courts for
disputes involving business people or firms, and social security courts).

• - civil courts

• - criminal courts
• which distinguish three types of offence: contraventions (petty
• offences), tried by police courts, délits (misdemeanours), tried by criminal courts and crimes (serious indictable offences),
tried by the Assize Court (the only court with lay jurors and from which there is no appeal against sentences).