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POLITICAL FRAMEWORK

Three legacies from French history shape the modern political system:

• A strong central government - Centuries ago, France centralized political power in Paris in the hands of an absolute monarch. France was able to develop this centralized power partly because royal families - like the Valois and the Bourbons &endash; managed to pass royal power from one generation to the next. Unlike the English, the French monarchs regularly produced male heirs whose authority was not as likely to be challenged as it would be should the throne pass to another relative. Another factor that kept power in the hands of the monarch was the early development of an extensive, well-organized bureaucracy. Strong ministers, such as Richelieu under Louis XIII and Colbert under Louis XIV, understood that extending the presence of the monarch throughout the country was necessary to finance wars and palaces and to control subjects. Kings retained absolute power until the late 18th century, basing their claims on divine right¸ or the blessings of God. Today the monarchy is long gone, but the tradition and the bureaucracy remain.
• The "swing" effect - In some ways the French Revolution that began in 1789 was a long time in the making. By then philosophes, such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, had been spreading their Enlightenment ideas for decades. Indeed, their criticism of French society and government entered Paris salons and were discussed enthusiastically by the very people that their philosophies targeted. The French middle class created by growing trade and capitalism did not pop up overnight. However, the violence of the Revolution took many by surprise, and almost no one could have predicted in 1789 the radical shift to the left that the Jacobins would institute within a few years. Between 1789 and the turn of the century, the French political system shifted from absolute monarchy to extreme radical egalitarianism, and finally back again to dictatorship under Napoleon Bonaparte by the early 1800s. The sequence of events set in motion the "swing effect" that has caused French politics to tend to go from one extreme reaction to another. The resulting instability still erupts from time to time, although the effect may have moderated during the 5th Republic.
• Strong man rule - France finally abandoned its monarchy in the early 19th century. However, the legacy of the absolute power of the throne remains, reflected in the modern practice of statism, or the tendency for the government to take most of the initiative in political, economic, and social policy-making. Citizens, then, come to rely on the "state" to take care of their needs, even in areas that might be considered private in other cultures. For example, government's responsibility for the welfare of its citizens is generally accepted, and until recently government-led business enterprises have been unchallenged. Likewise, local governments have tended to follow directions from Paris. Historically, France has looked to its leaders to save it from the chaos created by its contradictory traditions. So, even though kings no longer rule, charismatic "giants" have captured the country's imagination, and have been allowed to dominate French Government and politics in times of need. Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis Napoleon are good examples from the 19th century, and the most prominent 20th century strong man was Charles DeGaulle, who personally crafted the Fifth Republic that has existed since 1958.