Military of France

Among the larger European economies, France and the United Kingdom are the only significant spenders on defence: France with 2.6% of GDP, and the UK at 2.4%, according to 2003 figures from NATO. Those two countries account for 40% of EU defence spending. In most other EU countries, defence spending is less than 1.5% of GDP. About 10% of France’s defence budget goes toward its force de frappe, or nuclear weapons.

Organisation

The titular head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic, in his role as Chef des Armees - the President is thus Commander-in-Chief of French Forces. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). The Minister of Defence (as of 2005, Michele Alliot-Marie) oversees the military’s funding, procurement and operations.

Manpower

The total number of military personnel is approximately 300,000. However, 100,000 of these are in the Gendarmerie, and thus a vast majority of these 100,000 are used in everyday law enforcement operations inside France and are not fit for external operations. Elements of the Gendarmerie are however present in all French external operations, providing troops specialised in order enforcement and military police.

Previously, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower to its armies, with only a minority of career soldiers. Following from the Algerian War of Independence, the use of non-volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit is called for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac’s government announced the end of conscription; in 2001, conscription was ended. However, young people must still register for possible conscription should the situation call for it, with the cosmetic change that now females must register as well.

International stance

French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (see Force de frappe), and military sufficiency. France is a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and has worked actively with Allies to adapt NATO–internally and externally–to the post-Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO’s military wing, including the Military Committee (the French withdrew from NATO’s military bodies in 1966 while remaining full participants in the alliance’s political councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other efforts at cooperation. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-Russia Summit for the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security.

Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, often taking the lead in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military which will be smaller, more rapidly deployable and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include reducing personnel, bases, and headquarters and rationalising equipment and the armaments industry. French active-duty military at the beginning numbers approximately 270,000 (World Almanac 2004), of which nearly 35,000 were assigned outside of metropolitan France.

Since the end of the Cold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non-proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies and South Pacific states. France acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995.

After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific, the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti-personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment.

France is an active participant in the major supplier regimes designed to restrict transfer of technologies that could lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France has signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Recent operations

France provides, along with the United States and other countries, troops for the force stationed in Haiti, sanctioned by the United Nations, following the 2004 Haiti rebellion.

France has sent troops, especially special forces, into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

A force of a few thousand French soldiers, under a mandate from the UN (Operation Licorne), are stationned in Cote d’Ivoire on a peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and Cote d’Ivoire, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation.

Equipment
The standard assault rifle is the FAMAS.
Heavy armoured vehicles are bought from GIAT Industries.

Politics of France

French politics under the Fifth Republic

After Charles de Gaulle had the constitution of the French Fifth Republic adopted in 1958, France was ruled by successive right-wing administrations until 1981. Throughout the 1960s, left-wing parties fared rather badly in national elections. The successive governments generally applied the Gaullist program of national independence, and modernization in a dirigiste fashion. The Gaullist government, however, was criticized for its heavy-handedness: while elections were free, the state had a monopoly on radio and TV broadcasting and sought to have its point of view on events imposed (this monopoly was not absolute, however, since there were radio stations transmitting from nearby countries specifically for the benefit of the French). De Gaulle’s social policies were decidedly conservative.

In May 1968, series of worker strikes and student riots rocked France. These did not, however, result in an immediate change of government, with a right-wing administration being triumphantly reelected in the snap election of June 1968. The French electorate turned down a 1969 referendum on the reform of the French Senate, in a move widely considered to be mostly motivated by weariness with de Gaulle.

In 1981, François Mitterrand, a Socialist, was elected president, on a program of far-reaching reforms. After securing a majority in parliament through a snap election, his government ran a program of social and economic reforms:
social reforms:
abolition of the death penalty;
removal of legislation criminalizing certain homosexual behaviors: lowering of the age of consent for homosexual sex to that for heterosexual sex (since the French Revolution, France had never criminalized homosexuality between adults in private, but since the 1960s until this time, homosexuality was officially considered an illness to be cured);
economic reforms:
the government embarked on a wave of nationalizations;
the duration of the legal workweek was set to 39 hours, instead of the previous 40 hours.

However, in 1983, high inflation and economic woes forced a dramatic turnaround with respect to economic policies, known as rigueur (rigor) - the Socialist-Communist government then embarked on policies of fiscal and spending restraint. Though the nationalizations were subsequently reverted by both subsequent left-wing and right-wing governments, the social reforms undertaken have stood still.
(more…)

Government of France

The government of France is a semi-presidential system based on the French Constitution of the fifth Republic, in which the nation declares itself to be “an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic”. The constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims France’s “attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789.”

The national government of France is divided into an executive, a legislative and a judicial branch. The President has a degree of direct executive power, but most executive power resides in his appointee, the Prime Minister. The President’s choice for Prime Minister must have the confidence of the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament; also the Prime Minister is always from the majority party in that house.

Parliament comprises the National Assembly and the Senate. It passes statutes and votes on the budget; it controls the action of the executive through formal questioning on the floor of the houses of Parliament and by establishing commissions of enquiry. The constitutionality of the statutes is checked by the Constitutional Council, members of which are appointed by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, and the President of the Senate. Former Presidents of the Republic also are members of the Council.

The independent judiciary is based on a civil law system which evolved from the Napoleonic code. It is divided into the judicial branch (dealing with civil law and criminal law) and the administrative branch (dealing with appeals against executive decisions), each with their own independent supreme court, the courts of cassation. The French government includes various bodies that check abuses of power and independent agencies.

France is a unitary state. However, the various legal subdivisions-the regions, departements and communes-have various attributions, and the national government is prohibited from intruding into their normal legal operations.

Constitution

A popular referendum approved the constitution of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, greatly strengthening the authority of the presidency and the executive with respect to Parliament. The constitution does not contain a bill of rights in itself, but its preamble mentions that France should follow the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, as well as those of the preamble to the constitution of the Fourth Republic. This has been judged to imply that the principles laid forth in those texts have constitutional value, and that legislation infringing on those principles should be found unconstitutional.

Among these foundational principles, one may cite: the equality of all citizens before law, and the rejection of special class privileges such as those that existed prior to the French Revolution; presumption of innocence; freedom of speech; freedom of opinion including freedom of religion; the guarantee of property against arbitrary seizure; the accountability of government agents to the citizenry.

Executive branch

France has an original system with an executive branch headed by two officials: the President and the Prime Minister.

President of the Republic

Under the constitution, the President was originally elected for a seven-year term; this has been reduced to five years. The President names the Prime Minister, presides over the gouvernement (cabinet of ministers), commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties. The President may submit questions to national referenda and can dissolve the National Assembly.

In certain emergencies the President may assume special, comprehensive powers. However, in normal times, the President may pass neither legislation nor regulations, though, of course, if the Parliament is from his political side, he may strongly suggest the adoption of certain legislation, or request his prime minister to take such or such regulation.

In the original 1958 constitution, the President was elected by an electoral college of elected officials. However, in 1962, Charles de Gaulle obtained, through a referendum, an amendment to the constitution whereby the president would be directly elected by citizens. Given France’s runoff voting system, this means that the presidential candidate is required to obtain a nationwide majority of non-blank votes at either the first or second round of balloting, which presumably implies that the president is somewhat supported by at least half of the voting population; this gives him considerable legitimacy. Despite his somewhat restricted de jure powers, the president thus enjoys considerable aura and effective power.

As a consequence, the President is the pre-eminent figure in French politics. He names the Prime Minister; though he may not de jure dismiss him, if the Prime Minister is from the same political side, he can, in practice, have him resign on demand. He appoints the ministers, ministers-delegate and secretaries. When the President’s political party or supporters control parliament, the President is the dominant player in executive action, choosing whomever he wishes for the government, and having it follow his political agenda (parliamentary disagreements do occur, though, even within the same party).

However, when the President’s political opponents control parliament, the President’s dominance can be severely limited, as he must choose a Prime Minister and cabinet who reflect the majority in parliament, and who will implement the agenda of the parliamentary majority. When parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum control parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation.

Jacques Chirac has been President since 17 May 1995. He was reelected in 2002 for 5 more years.

The gouvernement

The gouvernement is headed by the Prime Minister. It has at its disposal the civil service, the government agencies, and the armed forces. (The term “cabinet” is rarely used to describe the gouvernement, even in translation, as it is used in French to mean a minister’s private office, composed of politically-appointed aides. In French, the word gouvernement can refer to government in general, but generally refers to the cabinet.)

The gouvernement is responsible to Parliament, and the National Assembly may pass a motion of censure, forcing the resignation of the cabinet. This, in practice, forces the gouvernement to be from the same political stripe as the majority in the Assembly. Ministers have to answer questions from members of Parliament, both written and oral; this is known as the questions au gouvernement (questions to the government). In addition, ministers attend meetings of the houses of Parliament when laws pertaining to their areas of responsibility are being discussed.

Government ministers cannot pass legislation without parliamentary approval, though the prime minister may issue regulations (decrets with a value of reglement) within certain constraints. Ministers, however, can propose legislation to Parliament; since the Assembly is from the same political stripe as the ministers, such legislation is, in general, very likely to pass. However, this is not guaranteed, and, on occasion, the opinion of the majority parliamentarians may differ significantly from those of the executive, which often results in a large number of amendments.

Traditionally, the cabinet comprises members of three ranks. Ministers are the most senior members of the government; ministers-delegate (ministres delegues) assist ministers in particular areas of their portfolio; secretaries of state (secretaires d’Etat) assist ministers in less important areas, and attend cabinet meetings only occasionally. Before the Fifth Republic, some ministers of particular political importance were called “ministers of state” (ministres d’Etat); the practice has continued under the Fifth Republic in a purely honorific fashion: ministers styled Minister of State are considered of a higher importance in the cabinet.

The number of ministries and the splitting of responsibilities and administrations between them varies from government to government. While the name and exact areas of responsibility of each ministry may change, one generally finds at least:
Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry (taxes, budget),
Ministry of the Interior (law enforcement, relationships with local governments),
Ministry of Justice and Keeper of the Seals (prisons, running the court system, supervision of the prosecution service)
Ministry of National Education,
Ministry of Defence,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Transportation.

The gouvernement has a leading role in shaping the agenda of the houses of Parliament. It may propose laws to Parliament, as well as amendments during parliamentary meetings. It may make use of some procedures to speed up parliamentary deliberations.

The cabinet has weekly meetings (usually on Wednesday mornings), chaired by the President, at the Elysee Palace.

Executive-issued regulations and legislation

The French executive has a limited power to establish regulation or legislation. (See below for how such regulations or legislative items interact with statute law.)

Decrees and other executive decisions

Only the President and Prime Minister sign decrees (decrets), which are akin to US executive orders. Decrees can only be taken following certain procedures and with due respect to the constitution and statute law.
The President signs decrees naming and dismissing most senior civil and military servants, for positions listed in the Constitution or in Statutes. He also signs decrees establishing some regulations (decrets en conseil des ministres). All such decrees must be countersigned by the Prime Minister and the ministers concerned.
The Prime Minister signs decrees establishing regulations, which the concerned ministers countersign. In some areas, they constitute primary legislation, in some others they must be subordinate to an existing statute. In some cases, statutes impose a compulsory advisory review by the Conseil d’Etat (decrets en Conseil d’Etat), as opposed to decrets simples.

The individual ministers take administrative decisions (arretes) in their fields of competence, subordinate to statutes and decrees.

Contrary to a sometimes used polemical cliche, neither the president nor the prime minister may rule by decree (outside of the narrow case of presidential emergency powers).

Ordinances

The executive cannot issue decrees in areas that the Constitution puts under the responsibility of legislation, issued by Parliament. Still, Parliament may, through a habilitation law, authorize the executive to issue ordinances (ordonnances), with legislative value, in such areas. Habilitation laws specify the scope of the ordinance. After the ordinance is issued, Parliament is asked whether it wants to ratify it. If Parliament votes no to ratification, the ordinance is cancelled. Most of the time, ratification is not voted upon.

The use of ordinances should normally be reserved for very urgent matters, or for technical, uncontroversial texts (such as the ordinances that converted all sums in French Francs to Euros in the various laws in force in France). They are sometimes used to push controversial legislation through, such as when Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin created new forms of work contracts in 2005. The use of ordinances in such contexts is then criticized by the opposition as anti-democratic, and demeaning to Parliament. It must be said, however, that since the National Assembly can dismiss the government through a motion of censure, the government necessarily relies on a majority in Parliament, and this majority would be likely to adopt the controversial law anyway.
(more…)

History of France

The borders of modern France are roughly the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was conquered by the Romans in the first century BC, and the Gauls eventually adopted Roman speech and culture. Christianity also took root in the second and third centuries AD.

In the fourth century AD, Gaul’s eastern frontier along the Rhine was overrun by Germanic tribes, principally the Franks, from whom the ancient name of “Francie” was derived. The modern name “France” derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. Existence as a separate entity began in 843, with the division of Charlemagne’s Carolingian empire into eastern, central and western parts. The western part approximated the area occupied by modern France.

Charlemagne’s descendants ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of France. His descendants, the Capetian, Valois and Bourbon dynasties progressively unified the country through a series of wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy reached its height during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. At this time France had a tremendous influence over European politics, economy and culture and possessed the largest population in Europe (see Demographics of France).

The monarchy ruled France until 1792, when the French Revolution established the First Republic. Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799, making himself First Consul, and later Emperor of what is now known as the First French Empire (1804-1814). In the course of several wars, his armies conquered many countries, with members of the Bonaparte family being appointed as monarchs of newly established kingdoms. Following Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the French monarchy was re-established. In 1830, a civil uprising established the constitutional July Monarchy followed by the Second Republic in 1848. The short-lived Second Republic ended in 1852 when Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed the Second French Empire. Louis-Napoleon was unseated following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to be replaced by the Third Republic.

France’s ultimate victory in World War I and World War II after initially being invaded and partly occupied by German forces did not prevent the loss of the colonial empire, the comparative economic status, population and status as a dominant nation state. The Fourth Republic was established after World War II, to be replaced in 1958 by the current semi-presidential Fifth Republic established under General Charles de Gaulle.

In recent decades, France’s reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the political and economic integration of the evolving European Union, including the introduction of the euro in January 1999. France has been at the forefront of European Union member states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary union to create a more unified and capable European Union based political, defence and security apparatus. However the French electorate voted against ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty in May 2005.

Geography of France

Location

Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain.

Geographic coordinates: 46°00′N 2°00′E

Area

total: 674,843 km²
note: whole territory of the French Republic, including all the overseas departments and territories, but excluding the French territory of Terre Adelie in Antarctica where sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959

metropolitan France: 551,695 km²
note: metropolitan (i.e. European) France only, French National Geographic Institute data

metropolitan France: 543,965 km²
note: metropolitan (i.e. European) France only, French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² as well as the estuaries of rivers

Boundaries

Land boundaries:
total: 2,889 km (metropolitan), 1,183 km (French Guiana), 10.2 km (Guadeloupe)
border countries: Andorra 56.6 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy 488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, Switzerland 573 km, Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km, Netherlands Antilles 10.2km

Coastline: 3,427 km (metropolitan), 378 km (French Guiana), 306 km (Guadeloupe), ??? km (other DOMs/TOMs)

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles (44 km)
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles (370 km) does not apply to the Mediterranean
territorial sea: 12 nautical miles (22 km)

Internal Divisions

Metropolitan (i.e. European) France is divided into 22 regions (although strictly speaking Corsica is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a region, but is referred to as a region in common speech), which are subdivided into 96 departements, which are further divided into 329 arrondissements, which are further divided into 3,879 cantons, which are further divided into 36,568 communes (as of 1.1.2004). The French Republic is further made up of the following overseas divisions:
4 overseas regions (regions d’outre-mer, or ROM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Reunion, which have the same status as metropolitan regions (as much as Hawaii has the same status as a continental US state), each of these overseas regions also being an overseas departement (departement d’outre-mer, or DOM), with the same status as a departement of metropolitan France.

This double structure (region/departement) is new, due to the recent extension of the regional scheme to the overseas departements, and may soon transform into a single structure, with the merger of the regional and departmental assemblies, unless new departements are created such as in the case of Reunion, where it has been proposed to create a second departement in the south of the island, with the region of Reunion above these two departements.

3 overseas collectivities (collectivites d’outre-mer, or COM): Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, and Mayotte (although strictly speaking Mayotte is in fact a “departmental collectivity”, not an overseas collectivity, with the possibility to become a full-status French departement in 2010, but for the sake of clarity it is most often classified as overseas collectivity)
1 sui generis collectivity (collectivite sui generis): New Caledonia, whose status is unique in the French Republic
1 overseas “country” (pays d’outre-mer, or POM): French Polynesia
1 overseas territory (territoire d’outre-mer, or TOM): the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
5 islands in the Indian Ocean with no permanent population and known as Iles Eparses (”Scattered Islands”), which are administered by the prefect of the departement of Reunion: Bassas da India, Europa, Juan de Nova, Glorioso, and Tromelin
1 uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico which is administered by the high-commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia: Clipperton

Climate

The Climate is generally one of cool winters and mild summers, with mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean. There is a lot of regional variation, however, and in the southwest of France, for example, summers are generally hot inland south of the Dordogne river.
(more…)

Introducation of France

France , officially the French Republic, is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. [1] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and North Sea, and from the Rhine River to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as l’Hexagone (the “Hexagon”) because of its geographical shape.

France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. In some of its overseas parts, France also shares land borders with Brazil, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles. France is also linked to the United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.

The French Republic is a democracy which is organized as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is a highly developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world in 2005.[2] Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also one of only eight acknowledged nuclear powers.

The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied the region after the fall of the Roman Empire. More precisely, the region around Paris, called Ile-de-France, was the original French royal demesne. (more…)