France is an independent nation in Western Europe and the center of a large overseas administration. It is the third-largest European nation after Russia and Ukraine.
In ancient times France was part of the Celtic territory known as Gaul or Gallia. Its present name is derived from the Latin Francia, meaning “country of the Franks,” a Germanic people who conquered the area during the 5th century, at the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It became a separate country in the 9th century.
Since the 17th century, France has played a major role in European and world events. In the 20th century, it has experienced numerous crises, including the devastation of two world wars, political and social upheavals, and the loss of a large empire in Indochina, Algeria, and West and Equatorial Africa. It has, however, survived and emerged from the ruins of World War II to become an important world supplier of agricultural and industrial products and a major partner in the EC, or Common Market).Today, the term metropolitan France refers to the mainland departments and Corsica, a large island located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy that has been a part of France since 1768.
France has six overseas departments: French Guiana in South America; Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies; Mayotte, an island formerly part of the Comoros, located in the Indian Ocean; REUNION, an island in the Indian Ocean; and Saint Pierre And Miquelon, islands off the east coast of Canada. In addition, France has numerous small possessions called overseas territories. These include a group of widely scattered islands in the South Pacific, which are administered from Tahiti and are known collectively as French Polynesia; French Southern And Antarctic Territories; New Caledonia And Wallis And Futuna Islands; and many small islands in the southern oceans, including the Kerguelen and Crozet archipelagos and the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. The overseas departments and territories are represented in the French National Assembly.
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... 1840 more French clergymen went overseas, especially since the Bishop of Montreal personally set out to France for ... Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island were cut off from the other Canadian ... of the century and the outbreak of World War I about 2000 clergymen emigrated to ... Marcel Trudel explains the large part of Norman immigrants as follows: Sa large facade sur la mer, ...
Geography
Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. Since 1958, it has constructed a presidential democracy resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier parliamentary democracies. In recent years, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of a common exchange currency, the euro, in January 1999. At present, France is at the forefront of efforts to develop the EU’s military capabilities to supplement progress toward an EU foreign policy. Its natural resources are coal, iron ore, bauxite, zinc, uranium, antimony, arsenic, potash, feldspar, fluorspar, gypsum, timber, and fish.
Social
The Current population of France is 60,656,178
Economy
France is in the middle of transition from a modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms. The government has partially or fully privatized many large companies, banks, and insurers. It retains controlling stakes in several leading firms, including Air France, France Telecom, Renault, and Thales, and is dominant in some sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defense industries. The telecommunications sector is gradually being opened to competition. France’s leaders remain committed to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax policies, and social spending that reduce income disparity and the impact of free markets on public health and welfare.
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The government has lowered income taxes and introduced measures to boost employment and reform the pension system. In addition, it is focusing on the problems of the high cost of labor and labor market inflexibility resulting from the 35-hour workweek and restrictions on lay-offs. The tax burden remains one of the highest in Europe nearly 50% of GDP in 2005. The lingering economic slowdown and inflexible budget items have pushed the budget deficit above the eurozone’s 3%-of-GDP limit unemployment stands at 10%.
Political
The France gocernment 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.
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