France
Since prehistoric times, France has been a crossroads of trade,
new-world-travel, and invasion. Three basic European ethnic stocks--Celtic,
Latin, and Teutonic (Frankish)--have blended over the centuries to
make up its present population. France's birth rate was among the
highest in Europe from 1945 until the late 1960s. Since then, its
birth rate has fallen but remains higher than that of most other
west European countries. Traditionally, France has had a high level
of immigration. More than 1 million Muslims immigrated in the 1960s
and early 1970s from North Africa, especially Algeria. About 85% of
the population is Roman Catholic, 10% Muslim, less than 2%
Protestant, and about 1% Jewish. However, the government does not
keep statistics on religious affiliation, and according to a January
2007 poll, 51% of respondents describe themselves as Catholic, and
another 31% describe themselves as having no religious affiliation.
In 2004, there were over 6 million Muslims, largely of North African
descent, living in France. France is home to both the largest Muslim
and Jewish populations in Europe.
Education is free, beginning at age 2, and mandatory between ages 6
and 16. The public education system is highly centralized. Private
education is primarily Roman Catholic. Higher education in France
began with the founding of the University of Paris in 1150. It now
consists of 91 public universities and 175 professional schools,
including the post-graduate Grandes Ecoles. Private, college-level
institutions focusing on business and management with curriculums
structured on the American system of credits and semesters have been
growing in recent years.
The French language derives from the vernacular Latin spoken by the
Romans in Gaul, although it includes many Celtic and Germanic words.
Historically, French has been used as the international language of
diplomacy and commerce. Today it remains one of six official
languages at the United Nations and has been a unifying factor in
Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. |
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France was one of the earliest countries to progress from feudalism
to the nation-state. Its monarchs surrounded themselves with capable
ministers, and French armies were among the most innovative,
disciplined, and professional of their day. During the reign of
Louis XIV (1643-1715), France was the dominant power in Europe. But
overly ambitious projects and military campaigns of Louis and his
successors led to chronic financial problems in the 18th century.
Deteriorating economic conditions and popular resentment against the
complicated system of privileges granted the nobility and clerics
were among the principal causes of the French Revolution (1789-94).
Although the revolutionaries advocated republican and egalitarian
principles of government, France reverted to forms of absolute rule
or constitutional monarchy four times--the Empire of Napoleon, the
Restoration of Louis XVIII, the reign of Louis-Philippe, and the
Second Empire of Napoleon III. After the Franco-Prussian War (1870),
the Third Republic was established and lasted until the military
defeat of 1940.
World War I (1914-18) brought great losses of troops and materiel.
In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border
defenses (the Maginot Line) and alliances to offset resurgent German
strength. France was defeated early in World War II, however, and
was occupied in June 1940. That July, the country was divided into
two: one section being ruled directly by the Germans, and a second
controlled by the French ("Vichy" France) and which the Germans did
not occupy. German and Italian forces occupied all of France,
including the "Vichy" zone, following the Allied invasion of North
Africa in November 1942. The "Vichy" government largely acquiesced
to German plans, namely in the plunder of French resources and the
forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French Jews living in
France to concentration camps across Europe, and was even more
completely under German control following the German military
occupation of November 1942. Economically, a full one-half of
France's public sector revenue was appropriated by Germany. After 4
years of occupation and strife in France, Allied forces liberated
the country in 1944.
France emerged from World War II to face a series of new problems.
After a short period of provisional government initially led by Gen.
Charles de Gaulle, the Fourth Republic was set up by a new
constitution and established as a parliamentary form of government
controlled by a series of coalitions. French military involvement in
both Indochina and Algeria combined with the mixed nature of the
coalitions and a consequent lack of agreement caused successive
cabinet crises and changes of government.
Finally, on May 13, 1958, the government structure collapsed as a
result of the tremendous opposing pressures generated by four years
of war with Algeria. A threatened coup led the Parliament to call on
General de Gaulle to head the government and prevent civil war.
Marking the beginning of the Fifth Republic, he became prime
minister in June 1958 and was elected president in December of that
year. The Algerian conflict also spurred decades of increased
immigration from the Maghreb states, changing the composition of
French society.
Seven years later, for the first time in the 20th century, the
people of France went to the polls to elect a president by direct
ballot. De Gaulle won re-election with a 55% share of the vote,
defeating Francois Mitterrand. In April 1969, President de Gaulle's
government conducted a national referendum on the creation of 21
regions with limited political powers. The government's proposals
were defeated, and de Gaulle subsequently resigned. Succeeding him
as president of France have been Gaullist Georges Pompidou
(1969-74), Independent Republican Valery Giscard d'Estaing
(1974-81), Socialist Francois Mitterrand (1981-95), neo-Gaullist
Jacques Chirac (1995-2007), and center-right Nicolas Sarkozy
(2007-present).
While France continues to revere its rich history and independence,
French leaders are increasingly tying the future of France to the
continued development of the European Union (EU). France was
integral in establishing the European Coal and Steel Community in
1951 and was among the EU's six founding states. During his tenure,
President Mitterrand stressed the importance of European integration
and advocated the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on European
economic and political union, which France's electorate narrowly
approved in September 1992. The center of domestic attention soon
shifted, however, to the economic reform and belt-tightening
measures required for France to meet the criteria for Economic and
Monetary Union (EMU) laid out by the Maastricht Treaty. France
continues to play a leading role in the EU, particularly in the
development of European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Although
a 2005 French referendum was actually responsible for the defeat of
the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, France has since
then backed the Lisbon Treaty--a main priority of Nicolas Sarkozy
during France's EU presidency in the latter half of 2008. In July
2008, France was instrumental in launching the Union for the
Mediterranean (UM), a continuation of the EU Barcelona Process.
France and Egypt hold the first rotating co-presidency, which serves
as a forum for political and economic cooperation between the EU and
its Mediterranean neighbors.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., France has played
a central role in the war on terrorism. French forces participate in
Operation Enduring Freedom and in the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan. France did not, however,
join the coalition that liberated Iraq in 2003. In October and
November 2005, three weeks of violent unrest in the largely
immigrant suburbs focused French attention further on their minority
communities. Also in 2005 French voters disapproved the EU
constitution in a national referendum. In the spring of 2006,
students protested widely over restrictive employment legislation.
In May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as France's sixth president
under the Fifth Republic, signaling French approval of widespread
economic and social reforms, as well as closer cooperation with the
United States. President Sarkozy indicated France will fully
reintegrate into the NATO command structure, a positive step in
transatlantic relations and NATO-ESDP cooperation. |
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