The Semi Presidential System In France Politics Essay

The France government is a semi presidential system which follows the fifth republic of the French constitution. The France declares them as the secular, social, individual and democratic republic. The government of France divides into a legislative, a judicial branch and an executive. The prime minister shares the executive powers with the president. Parliament consists of the Senate and the national assembly. It passes vote and statutes on the budget and it also controls the works of the executive through questioning in the parliament house and by organizing enquiry commission. The members of the constitutional council are appointed by the president of national assembly, the president of the senate and the president of the republic. The judiciary system of the France is based on the civil law system which was evolved from Napoleonic codes. The judiciary system is divided into the administrative code and the judicial branch. They have their own supreme court of appeal like Conseil d’état for the administrative purpose and Court of Cassation for judicial purpose. The French government also has various bodies to check whether the powers are abused by anyone or not. France was also the founding member of the European Union. (introduction)

History

France was one of an earliest country which changes from feudalism to nation state. The monarchs of the France were surrounded with the capable ministers. French armies were the most disciplined, professional and innovative of their day. The dominant power in Europe was France during the power of Louis XIV from year 1643 to 1715. In the 18th century, the Louis government faced financial problem due to the military campaigns and overly ambitious projects. The main causes of French revolution during the year 1789 to 1794 were resentment against the political system and deteriorate economic conditions. Although the revolutionaries follow egalitarian and republican principles of government but the French government reverted to form constitutional monarchy about four times. The four monarchial governments were the restoration of Louis XVIII, the empire of Napoleon, the second Empire of napoleon III and the reign of Louis Philippe. The third republic was formed after the Prussian Franco war in 1870 and lasted till the defeat of the military in year 1940. During the World War I the great loss of material and troops occurred. France government formed the huge border defenses known as the Maginot Line and alliances to defeat the German strength in the year 1920. Although France was defeated early in the world war III then also they gain the power again in June 1940. In July 1940 France was divided into two sections. One section was ruled by Germens and another was controlled by the Vichy France. But in year 1942, the Italian and German force conquered the France including Vichy region also and formed the allied forces. In 1944, Allied force liberated France after four year of occupation and services. After the world war II France faces new problems. Initially the provisional government was led by Gen. Charles de Gaulle but after the short period of time the fourth republic was formed by the new constitution. It was parliamentary form of government which was controlled by series of coalitions. The lack of agreement between the French military and the members of the constitution was the main cause of the change of the government. On May 13, 1958 finally the government structure collapsed due to the tremendous pressure which was generated by the four years war with Algeria. In June 1958, fifth republic was formed and General de Gaulle became the prime minister and in December of the same year he was elected as a president. After the seven year in the 20th century, the people of France for the first time got the liberty to elect their president through ballot system. De Gaulle won the election after defeating Francois Mitterrand with 55% share of vote. After elected as a president of the country De Gaulle conducted a referendum which was concern on the creation of twenty one with the less political powers. But this proposal was rejected by the members of the government after that he resigned from his post. After him, Gaullist Georges Pompidou was elected as president for year 1969 to 1974 then Valery Giscard d’Estaing for year 1974 to 1981. After that Francois Mitterrand was elected for year 1981 to 1995 and then neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac for year 1995 to 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy was elected in May 2007 as sixth president of France under the fifth republican. It remarks as increasing of social and economic reforms. During the five year term of Sarkozy, he faced tremendous pressure to improve the economy, employment rate and reduce the sizable budget deficit of the government. He has also reintegrated the north Atlantic treaty organization with France. (history of france government)

Governmental Structure

In year 1958, public referendum approved the constitution of the fifth republic. According to this constitution the president was elected for the seven year term but in 2002 the presidential period of work got reduced to five years. In year 2008, the new constitutional reform was passed again which limits the presidential period to two consecutive terms. The next legislative and presidential elections are scheduled in year 2012. The executive branch of France is consisting of the prime minister, the president, the bureaucracies of many ministries and the government. The president has the right to elect the prime minister, rules over the cabinet and gives the instruction to the armed forces. The president also has right to submit the question to the referendum. At the time of emergency the president has rule by decree and dictatorial powers but with permission of the parliament. The head of the government is prime minister and his cabinet is composed of minister delegates, secretaries of state and number of ministers. Under the fifth republic, president leaves the day to day policy decision to the prime minister and its government. Every year the members of parliament meet once for the nine month session. Under the special situation the president has special right to call the additional session. Even the legislative branch has few executive powers then also the national assembly has power to remove the existing government if the votes of the members are in majority. The parliament of France consists of a Senate and a National Assembly. The principle legislative body of France is national assembly. The members of national assembly are elected for the five year through voting. The Electoral College has the right to choose the senators. In 2003 a new rule is passed the senators will serve for six years but one half of the members will be renewed after three years. The legislative powers of the senators are limited as compared to the national assembly. Initially the government has power to solve the agenda of parliament but after the constitutional reform which was passed in 2008 parliament got the right to solve their own agenda. In July 2008, a new constitutional reform was passed which limited the process to one bill in each session, finance on the social security and to the vote for the national budget. Impact assessment is necessary from the September 2009, for all the draft laws which is going to the parliament and the council state. The best feature of the judicial system of the French is that the council of state protects the basic rights when it is violated by the action of the state and constitutional council protects the basic laws when it is violated by the new laws. The function of the constitutional council is different from the council of state and they provide the justice to the citizens who have claimed against the administration. There are various ordinary courts such as the criminal courts, the police courts, the industrial courts and the commercial courts which settle the disputes which arise between the citizens and also between the corporation and the citizens. The cases which were judged by the ordinary court can be reviewed by the court of appeals.

Political system

On May 16, 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy joined the office under the Fifth republic as the sixth president. On April 22, 2007 during the first round of election, Nicolas Sarkozy placed first, the head of the Union for popular movement party. The Segolene Royal, the candidate of socialist, placed second. Francois Bayrou of centrist placed third and Jean Marie Le pen of extremist was placed fourth. In the second round of the election on May 6, 2007, Sarkozy defeated Segolene Royal by 53.06%. The defeat of Royal in the presidential election was the third largest defeat of the any Socialist candidate. The focal point of the campaign of the Sarkozy’s party was to implement the various reform like economic and market oriented reforms. After electing as the president he first gave the green signal to implement these reforms and worked on the European Union treaty which was rejected in the year 2005. The voters of France also show their desire to renew the France and United state relationship. The president Sarkozy basically concentrate on improving the performance of the economy of France through labor market liberalization, taxes and higher education. During the legislative elections which was held on July 10, 2007, the UMP won by the large majority. This gives them an advantage during the European Parliament election in year 2007. They won by 27.88% from the Socialists. During the first year of service, Sarkozy removed the income taxes on the overtime works and increase the pension period of the retirees. (political system)

Conclusion

The France government follows the semi presidential system. The French government divides into the three parts. One is legislative, other is executive and last one is judicial. The France president has degree of the executive powers. The prime minister which is appointed by the president has highest number of executive powers. Then we studied the history of the France government before the World War II and the till now. Then we discuss the governmental structure of the France government. It is consist of the prime minister, president and the Member of Parliament. The parliament of France consists of the national assembly and the senate. The member of the national assembly was elected for the five years and the member of senate was elected for the six years. The judiciary system of France consists of the various local and the supreme courts which solve various types of problems at each level. Then the political structure of France government is discussed. The political structure of France consists of various political parties like UMP, extremists, socialist etc.