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The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often leveled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
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The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] deputies -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar [[KnightTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often leveled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
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* Flush with victory and a spirit rather like his uncle's, Louis-Napoleon proclaimed the '''Second Empire''' in 1852, declaring himself "Napoleon III" (on the theory that Napoleon's infant son had become "Napoleon II" after Uncle Nap's abdication [[note]]Napoleon had formally declared his son to be this, and demanded recognition of this as a condition of his surrender and abdication, but was refused and forced to surrender unconditionally, renouncing all his descendants' right to rule[[/note]]), thus earning the dubious distinction of becoming both the first elected president and last monarch of France's history. Napoleon III got France involved in wars (against Austria in Italy and against Russia on the Crimea) and foreign adventures, like the disastrous attempt to install an emperor in Mexico. In 1870, Napoleon fell into a trap and at war with [[MagnificentBastard Otto von Bismarck]]'s {{Prussia}}. Briefly put, the Prussians, commanding several other German states as well, roundly kicked France's ass, leading Napoleon III to go into exile in England after his release from captivity in Kassel (former residence of one of his other uncles, King Jérôme Bonaparte of Westphalia). Bismarck declared the [[ImperialGermany German Empire]] at the Palace of Versailles, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Paris was taken over by leftists in an episode known as the Paris Commune, but they were bloodily crushed after 70 days [[note]]The Commune is pretty much the first actual application of Socialism, during which the song ''L'Internationale'' was written. As brief as it was, some modern left-wing parties such as the Left Front still attach a great importance to it.[[/note]]. But by the end of 1871, the time had come for a stable government, leading to...
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri, comte de Chambord, was an elderly childless bachelor, meaning that they could have him become King and name the Orléanist claimant, Louis-Philippe's son Philippe, comte de Paris, as his heir. All it would take to make this work was the assent of both of the royals in question. Philippe had no problem waiting, as anticipated. But although the comte de Chambord was willing to hand the heirship to the throne to the comte de Paris,[[note]]He had the strongest claim anyway...unless you claim that Louis XIV had no right to give up his grandson Philip's claim to the French throne with the Treaty of Utrecht that settled the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession...yes, royalist politics can get a bit odd at times.[[/note]] he refused to become a constitutional figurehead monarch ruling under the republican tricolor (which is what almost everybody wanted--even the Legitimists). So the royalists took to waiting until he died, so Philippe could take the throne. And they waited. And waited. And waited. And for six years the man would not die. Eventually, people got tired of waiting, and before Chambord (1820-1883) could kick the bucket, the French people decided that monarchy really wasn't on anymore if the fate of the country could be decided by the matter of one man's opinions about a ''flag'' and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time (as a result, republicans like Georges Clemenceau joked that the comte de Chambord was "the French [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]]": the man without whom the Republic would not exist). After a big crisis on 17 May 1877 (involving a constitutional dispute between a monarchist president and republican parliament) the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances.
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri, comte de Chambord, was an elderly childless bachelor, meaning that they could have him become King and name the Orléanist claimant, Louis-Philippe's son Philippe, comte de Paris, as his heir. All it would take to make this work was the assent of both of the royals in question. Philippe had no problem waiting, as anticipated. But although the comte de Chambord was willing to hand the heirship to the throne to the comte de Paris,[[note]]He had the strongest claim anyway...unless you claim that Louis XIV had no right to give up his grandson Philip's claim to the French throne with the Treaty of Utrecht that settled the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession...yes, royalist politics can get a bit odd at times.[[/note]] he refused to become a constitutional figurehead monarch ruling under the republican tricolor (which is what almost everybody wanted--even the Legitimists). So the royalists took to waiting until he died, so Philippe could take the throne. And they waited. And waited. And waited. And for six years the man would not die. Eventually, people got tired of waiting, and before Chambord (1820-1883) could kick the bucket, the French people decided that monarchy really wasn't on anymore if the fate of the country could be decided by the matter of one man's opinions about a ''flag'' and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time (as a result, republicans like Georges Clemenceau joked that the comte de Chambord was "the French [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]]": the man without whom the Republic would not exist). After a big crisis on 17 May 1877 (involving a constitutional dispute between a monarchist president and republican parliament) the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances.
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* Flush with victory and a spirit rather like his uncle's, Louis-Napoleon proclaimed the '''Second Empire''' in 1852, declaring himself "Napoleon III" (on the theory that Napoleon's infant son had become "Napoleon II" after Uncle Nap's abdication [[note]]Napoleon had formally declared his son to be this, and demanded recognition of this as a condition of his surrender and abdication, but was refused and forced to surrender unconditionally, renouncing all his descendants' right to rule[[/note]]), thus earning the dubious distinction of becoming both the first elected president and last monarch of France's history. Napoleon III got France involved in wars (against Austria in Italy and against Russia on the Crimea) and foreign adventures, like the disastrous attempt to install an emperor in Mexico. In 1870, Napoleon fell into a trap and at went to war with [[MagnificentBastard Otto von Bismarck]]'s {{Prussia}}. Briefly put, the Prussians, commanding several other German states as well, roundly kicked France's ass, leading Napoleon III to go into exile in England after his release from captivity in Kassel (former residence of one of his other uncles, King Jérôme Bonaparte of Westphalia). Bismarck declared the [[ImperialGermany German Empire]] at the Palace of Versailles, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Paris was taken over by leftists in an episode known as the Paris Commune, but they were bloodily crushed after 70 days [[note]]The Commune is pretty much the first actual application of Socialism, during which the song ''L'Internationale'' was written. As brief as it was, some modern left-wing parties such as the Left Front still attach a great importance to it.it, as did Creator/KarlMarx, who wrote in its praise at the time.[[/note]]. But by the end of 1871, the time had come for a stable government, leading to...
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri,comte Comte de Chambord, was an elderly childless bachelor, meaning that they could have him become King and name the Orléanist claimant, Louis-Philippe's son Philippe, comte de Paris, as his heir. All it would take to make this work was the assent of both of the royals in question. Philippe had no problem waiting, as anticipated. But although the comte Comte de Chambord was willing to hand the heirship to the throne to the comte Comte de Paris,[[note]]He had the strongest claim anyway...unless you claim that Louis XIV had no right to give up his grandson Philip's claim to the French throne with the Treaty of Utrecht that settled the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession...yes, Yes, royalist politics can get a bit odd at times.[[/note]] he refused to become a constitutional figurehead monarch ruling under the republican tricolor (which is what almost everybody wanted--even the Legitimists). So the royalists took to waiting until he died, so Philippe could take the throne. And they waited. And waited. And waited. And for six years the man would not die. Eventually, people got tired of waiting, and before Chambord (1820-1883) could kick the bucket, the French people decided that monarchy really wasn't on anymore if the fate of the country could be decided by the matter of one man's opinions about a ''flag'' and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time (as a result, republicans like Georges Clemenceau joked that the comte Comte de Chambord was "the French [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]]": the man without whom the Republic would not exist). After a big crisis on 17 May 1877 (involving a constitutional dispute between a monarchist president and republican parliament) the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances.
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri,
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France (for well over a century, northern Algeria was politically considered no different than any region of mainland France, with full voting rights and representation in Parliament), but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. When de Gaulle started negotiating with the Algerian nationalists, parts of the French army attempted a military coup which [[EpicFail failed in three days]]. The Fifth French Republic is the current one.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. When de Gaulle started negotiating with the Algerian nationalists, parts of the French army attempted a military coup which [[EpicFail failed in three days]]. The Fifth French Republic is the current one.
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region Algeria also demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France (for well over a century, northern Algeria was politically considered no different than any region of mainland France, with full voting rights and representation in Parliament), but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French ethnic French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. turned (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) 1962). Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, stated "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. Whende De Gaulle started negotiating with the Algerian nationalists, parts of the French army attempted a military coup which [[EpicFail failed in three days]]. The Fifth French Republic is the current one.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. When
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The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often levelled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
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The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often levelled leveled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
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* '''[[color:darkviolet:Debout la République]]''' (DLR, "Rise Up, Republic!"): Formerly a current within the UMP, led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it seceded and became an independent party in 2007, to represent the nominally Gaullist right-wing. They promote a Keynesian flavour of capitalism rather than what they perceive as the deregulated, neo-liberal capitalism of the EU, as well as a confederal model for UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion. Critical of the European Commission for being unelected. They also promote the Euro as a common reference currency (with national currencies in parallel) rather than a single currency.
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* '''[[color:darkviolet:Debout la République]]''' France]]''' (DLR, "Rise Up, Republic!"): France!"): Formerly a current within the UMP, led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it seceded and became an independent party in 2007, to represent the nominally Gaullist right-wing. They promote a Keynesian flavour of capitalism rather than what they perceive as the deregulated, neo-liberal capitalism of the EU, as well as a confederal model for UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion. Critical of the European Commission for being unelected. They also promote the Euro as a common reference currency (with national currencies in parallel) rather than a single currency.
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** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]]. For 2017, they seem to favor a common candidate with the UMP after a primary election.
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** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]]. For 2017, they seem to favor a common candidate with considered taking part in the UMP after a rightwing primary election.in 2016, but the party's activists opposed the idea in an internal vote.
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* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]'', scoring as high as 5% in 1995 and 2002. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
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* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]'', scoring as high as 5% 5-6% in 1995 and 2002. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
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* '''[[color:firebrick:Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste]]''' (NPA, New Anticapitalist Party): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A refoundation of an old Trotskyst party (the Revolutionary Communist League, LCR), led by young postman Olivier Besancenot until recently, composed of and led by mostly non-professional militants, and proud of this fact. They put an emphasis on ecological and social issues and like the previous party, they consider only social struggle brings any change. Their current spokeswoman is Christine Poupin (although you're more likely to read about Philippe Poutou or Olivier Besancenot in the media).
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* '''[[color:firebrick:Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste]]''' (NPA, New Anticapitalist Party): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A refoundation of an old Trotskyst party (the Revolutionary Communist League, LCR), led by young postman Olivier Besancenot until recently, recently[[note]]For his first presidential campaign in 2002, he scored 4%. That's right, along with LO, the Trotskyst parties gathered ''10%'' of voters that year)[[/note]], composed of and led by mostly non-professional militants, and proud of this fact. They put an emphasis on ecological and social issues and like the previous party, they consider only social struggle brings any change. Their current spokeswoman is Christine Poupin (although you're more likely to read about Philippe Poutou or Olivier Besancenot in the media).
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Changed line(s) 39 (click to see context) from:
* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]''. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
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* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]''.times]]'', scoring as high as 5% in 1995 and 2002. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
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** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]].
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** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]]. For 2017, they seem to favor a common candidate with the UMP after a primary election.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Philippe Poutou'' (worker and union leader in a car factory). He scored 1.5%.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Philippe Poutou'' (worker and union leader in a car factory). He scored 1.5%.5% and will run again in 2017.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Bayrou'' once more. He scored 9.5%.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Bayrou'' once more. He scored 9.5%. In 2017 it's his friend Jean Lassale who will run for presidency.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was the outgoing president, ''Nicolas Sarkozy''. He scored 27% in the first round but was beaten in the second round with 48,5%.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was the outgoing president, ''Nicolas Sarkozy''. He scored 27% in the first round but was beaten in the second round with 48,5%. He intends to run again in 2017, but will first have to win the rightwing primary in 2016, and odds don't look in his favor.
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* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
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* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show.show, while France was at war with the neighbouring monarchies and the 1793 constitution ended up stillborn. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Nicolas Dupont-Aignan'' (Deputy of the Essone department). He scored 2%.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Nicolas Dupont-Aignan'' (Deputy of the Essone department). He scored 2%.2%, and will run again in 2017.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%, and will run again for the 2017 election.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%, and will run again for the 2017 election.election, but not as the Left Front candidate this time around.[[note]]He launched a movement "out of parties", as well an Internet platform for brainstorming and crowdfunding, inspired by the one used by Bernie Sanders in the US.[[/note]]
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** Their candidate for the 2012 presidential election was ''Nathalie Arthaud'' (economy and management teacher). She scored 0.5%.
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** Their candidate for the 2012 presidential election was ''Nathalie Arthaud'' (economy and management teacher). She scored 0.5%.5%, and announced she will run again in 2017.
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans,[[note]]The Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon, historically liberal minded, had been favoured by liberal French constitutional monarchists since the days of the Directory, as the then-self-proclaimed Louis XVIII was seen as an intransigent reactionary, while the Duke of Orléans at the time of the Revolution, Louis Philippe II, had been a major leader of the liberal movement, renamed himself Philippe Égalité (Philippe Equality), and had voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI before being executed during the Reign of Terror for being insufficiently radical.[[/note]] was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans,[[note]]The Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon, historically liberal minded, had been favoured by liberal French constitutional monarchists since the days of the Directory, as the then-self-proclaimed Louis XVIII was seen as an intransigent reactionary, while the Duke of Orléans at the time of the Revolution, Louis Philippe II, had been a major leader of the liberal movement, renamed himself Philippe Égalité (Philippe Equality), and had voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI before being executed during the Reign of Terror for being insufficiently radical.[[/note]] was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_People#/media/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans". This was rather controversial among other parties; given how "The Republic" has come to be virtually interchangeable with "France" (ie ''all'' French people are "Republicans"[[note]]Aside from the now rather fringe monarchists, of course.[[/note]]), Sarkozy has been accused to trying to claim ownership of the French identity for his party alone. Some even suggested that the use of the name was ''illegal''.
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon Sarkozy announced that he retired from poltitics after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin his defeat in 2012, but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In in November 2014, after much turmoil caused by the rivalry between the party's (very unpopular) leaders, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans". This was rather controversial among other parties; given how "The Republic" has come to be virtually interchangeable with "France" (ie ''all'' French people are "Republicans"[[note]]Aside from the now rather fringe monarchists, of course.[[/note]]), Sarkozy has been accused to trying to claim ownership of the French identity for his party alone. Some even suggested that the use of the name was ''illegal''. The party should hold a primary election to choose its candidate for 2017, similarly to what the PS did in 2011.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%.11%, and will run again for the 2017 election.
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** Their candidate for 2012 was Marine Le Pen (Member of European Parliament). She scored 18%. [[note]] Since she scored 18% in the latest presidential election, which was even more than what got her father to the runoff stage of the election in 2002, but the party itself went on to get either 1 or 2 seats (depending on who you count) out of several hundred in the National Assembly, the FN (along with the centrists, the Greens and the Left Front for somewhat obvious reasons) are the most vocal proponents of changing the electoral system to a proportional-ish system. There's a somewhat similar debate in the UK, although the current electoral systems aren't the same (the UK has FPTP while France mostly has two-stage runoff elections). Mitterrand had actually switched to proportional voting for the 1986 parliamentary election, mainly to try and prevent a Socialist loss, with the predictable effect of the FN winning seats in the National Assembly, and the whole thing being scrapped and two-stage runoffs being brought back in 1988.[[/note]]
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** Their candidate for 2012 was Marine Le Pen (Member of European Parliament). She scored 18%. [[note]] Since she scored 18% in the latest presidential election, which was even more than what got her father to the runoff stage of the election in 2002, but the party itself went on to get either 1 or 2 seats (depending on who you count) out of several hundred in the National Assembly, the FN (along with the centrists, the Greens and the Left Front for somewhat obvious reasons) are the most vocal proponents of changing the electoral system to a proportional-ish system. There's a somewhat similar debate in the UK, although the current electoral systems aren't the same (the UK has FPTP while France mostly has two-stage runoff elections). Mitterrand had actually switched to proportional voting for the 1986 parliamentary election, mainly to try and prevent a Socialist loss, with the predictable effect of the FN winning seats in the National Assembly, and the whole thing being scrapped and two-stage runoffs being brought back in 1988.[[/note]][[/note]] She will run again for the 2017 election.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It currently includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%), and is rather on the moderate side of the alliance; the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]], rather on the radical side; a party called "Ensemble" (Together) led by Clémentine Autin, somewhere in the middle; and a few other small formations. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government[[note]]Mélenchon (in)famously called Hollande a [[MemeticMutation "pedalboat captain"]] during the presidential campaign, refering to his supposed inability to take radical measures against the crisis.[[/note]]. The Left Front managed a pretty high score in the presidential election, but has been stagnating around 6-7% of voters ever since.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It currently includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%), and is rather on the moderate side of the alliance; the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]], rather on the radical side; a party called "Ensemble" (Together) led by Clémentine Autin, somewhere in the middle; and a few other small formations. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government[[note]]Mélenchon (in)famously called Hollande a [[MemeticMutation "pedalboat captain"]] during the presidential campaign, refering to his supposed inability to take radical measures against the crisis.[[/note]]. The Left Front managed a pretty high score in the presidential election, but has been stagnating around 6-7% of voters ever since.since, not helped by a [[WeAreStrugglingTogether troubled relationship between its parties.]]
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It currently includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%), and is rather on the moderate side of the alliance; the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]], rather on the radical side; a party called "Ensemble" (Together) led by Clémentine Autin, somewhere in the middle; and a few other small formations. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government[[note]]Mélenchon (in)famously called Hollande a [[MemeticMutation "pedalboat captain"]] during the presidential campaign, refering to his supposed inability to take radical measures against the crisis.[[/note]].
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It currently includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%), and is rather on the moderate side of the alliance; the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]], rather on the radical side; a party called "Ensemble" (Together) led by Clémentine Autin, somewhere in the middle; and a few other small formations. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government[[note]]Mélenchon (in)famously called Hollande a [[MemeticMutation "pedalboat captain"]] during the presidential campaign, refering to his supposed inability to take radical measures against the crisis.[[/note]]. The Left Front managed a pretty high score in the presidential election, but has been stagnating around 6-7% of voters ever since.
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* After eighteen years, however, many of the king's middle-class, liberal supporters began to chafe at the slow pace of reform under Louis-Philippe. In February 1848, revolution broke out, Louis-Philippe abdicated, and the '''Second Republic''' was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's [[ObfuscatingStupidity seemingly-inept]] nephew. He promptly overthrew the government in a military coup d'etat and held a rigged plebiscite granting him absolute power.
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* After eighteen years, however, many of the king's middle-class, liberal supporters began to chafe at the slow pace of reform under Louis-Philippe. In February 1848, [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 revolution broke out, out]], Louis-Philippe abdicated, and the '''Second Republic''' was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's [[ObfuscatingStupidity seemingly-inept]] nephew. He promptly overthrew the government in a military coup d'etat and held a rigged plebiscite granting him absolute power.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%); the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]]; the Unitary Left (GU) led by Christian Picquet, a scission from the NPA (which didn't join the Left Front); and six other small formations − four of which recently fused to form the party "Ensemble" (Together) and have more weight within the Front. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It currently includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%); (2%), and is rather on the moderate side of the alliance; the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]]; orientations]], rather on the Unitary Left (GU) led by Christian Picquet, radical side; a scission from the NPA (which didn't join the Left Front); and six other small formations − four of which recently fused to form the party called "Ensemble" (Together) led by Clémentine Autin, somewhere in the middle; and have more weight within the Front.a few other small formations. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government.government[[note]]Mélenchon (in)famously called Hollande a [[MemeticMutation "pedalboat captain"]] during the presidential campaign, refering to his supposed inability to take radical measures against the crisis.[[/note]].
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* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
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* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General NapoleonBonaparte UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
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The president of the Senate is the "second most important person of the State". While not as powerful as the PM, if the President of the Republic dies or is incapacitated, the Senate president assumes his function until the President comes back to work or a new President is elected [[note]]this has happened twice in recent history, namely following Charles de Gaulle's resignation as president and, some 5 years later, Georges Pompidou's death while in office[[/note]]. Finally the economic, social and ecological council, which is made up of representatives of "professional organizations" (yep: trade unions have their own legislative chamber in France), is the third and least powerful chamber. (It only has a consultative role, yet going against it too often is not the smartest thing to do, being akin to declaring war against the very [[HotBlooded easy to anger]] French unions. God knows how many governments have lost elections or became powerless because they pissed them off.)
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The president of the Senate is the "second most important person of the State". While not as powerful as the PM, if the President of the Republic dies or is incapacitated, the Senate president assumes his function until the President comes back to work or a new President is elected [[note]]this elected. [[note]]This has happened twice in recent history, the history of the Fifth Republic, namely following Charles de Gaulle's resignation as president in 1969 and, some 5 years later, Georges Pompidou's death while in office[[/note]]. office in 1974. In both cases, the Senate president was Alain Poher, a Senator from a centrist party; he stood to be permanent President in 1969, but lost to Pompidou in the second round; he declined to stand for the permanent presidency in 1974, in part because he didn't really want to and in part because Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (the eventual winner) had more support within the centrist bloc.[[/note]] Finally the economic, social and ecological council, which is made up of representatives of "professional organizations" (yep: trade unions have their own legislative chamber in France), is the third and least powerful chamber. (It only has a consultative role, yet going against it too often is not the smartest thing to do, being akin to declaring war against the very [[HotBlooded easy to anger]] French unions. God knows how many governments have lost elections or became powerless because they pissed them off.)
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans,[[note]]The Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon, historically liberal minded, had been favoured by liberal French constitutional monarchists since the days of the Directory, as the then-self-proclaimed Louis XVIII was seen as an intransigent reactionary, while the Duke of Orléans at the time of the Revolution, Louis Philippe II, had been a major leader of the liberal movement, renamed himself Philippe Égalité (Philippe Equality), and had voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI.[[/note]] was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans,[[note]]The Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon, historically liberal minded, had been favoured by liberal French constitutional monarchists since the days of the Directory, as the then-self-proclaimed Louis XVIII was seen as an intransigent reactionary, while the Duke of Orléans at the time of the Revolution, Louis Philippe II, had been a major leader of the liberal movement, renamed himself Philippe Égalité (Philippe Equality), and had voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI.XVI before being executed during the Reign of Terror for being insufficiently radical.[[/note]] was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, Orleans,[[note]]The Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon, historically liberal minded, had been favoured by liberal French constitutional monarchists since the days of the Directory, as the then-self-proclaimed Louis XVIII was seen as an intransigent reactionary, while the Duke of Orléans at the time of the Revolution, Louis Philippe II, had been a major leader of the liberal movement, renamed himself Philippe Égalité (Philippe Equality), and had voted for the execution of his cousin Louis XVI.[[/note]] was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans". This was rather controversial among other parties; given how "The Republic" has come to be virtually interchangeable with "France" (ie ''all'' French people are "Republicans"[[note]]Aside from the now rather fringe monarchists, of course.[[/note]]), Sarkozy has been accused to trying to claim ownership of the French identity for his party alone.
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans". This was rather controversial among other parties; given how "The Republic" has come to be virtually interchangeable with "France" (ie ''all'' French people are "Republicans"[[note]]Aside from the now rather fringe monarchists, of course.[[/note]]), Sarkozy has been accused to trying to claim ownership of the French identity for his party alone. Some even suggested that the use of the name was ''illegal''.
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* '''[[color:green:Europe-Écologie/Les Verts]]''' (EELV, Europe-Ecology/The Greens): A fusion between the old Green party and a more recent party led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a famous figure of the May 68 protests who is now more of a centrist. Currently, the party is led by Émanuelle Cosse. The political spectrum within the alliance is quite large, from de-growth activists to centrist liberals. Thus, the political line of the party is rather blurry, but mostly on the center-left. During the 2012 election, they forged an agreement with the Socialist Party and participated in their government until April 2014. The party's ministers had said in 2013 that they would leave the government should the ostensibly rightwing(and then minister of the interior) Manuel Valls become prime minister. Which is exactly what happened after the 2014 city council elections.
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* '''[[color:green:Europe-Écologie/Les Verts]]''' (EELV, Europe-Ecology/The Greens): A fusion between the old Green party and a more recent party led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a famous figure of the May 68 protests who is now more of a centrist. Currently, the party is led by Émanuelle Cosse. The political spectrum within the alliance is quite large, from de-growth activists to centrist liberals. Thus, the political line of the party is rather blurry, but mostly on the center-left. During the 2012 election, they forged an agreement with the Socialist Party and participated in their government until April 2014. The party's ministers had said in 2013 that they would leave the government should the ostensibly rightwing(and rightwing (and then minister of the interior) Manuel Valls become prime minister. Which is exactly what happened after the 2014 city council elections.
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans".
to:
* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans". This was rather controversial among other parties; given how "The Republic" has come to be virtually interchangeable with "France" (ie ''all'' French people are "Republicans"[[note]]Aside from the now rather fringe monarchists, of course.[[/note]]), Sarkozy has been accused to trying to claim ownership of the French identity for his party alone.
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France, but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France (for well over a century, northern Algeria was politically considered no different than any region of mainland France, with full voting rights and representation in Parliament), but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France, but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
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* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[TheFrenchColonialEmpire [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France, but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
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->'''"Article I''' - Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common utility."
-->--'''Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen''', 1789[[note]]Whole text on [[Quotes/FrenchPoliticalSystem quotes page]][[/note]]
France is famous for [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution having gone from a monarchy to a republic]], but its political system has changed no fewer than ten--that's right, '''ten'''--times since Louis XVI's head came off in 1793.
''Presidents of the Fifth Republic are now listed on the UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfFrance page, along with the other French presidents.''
* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
* Napoleon, deciding that being First Consul really didn't suit him, had himself declared Emperor of the French in 1804 [[note]](he did not, however, snatch his crown from the Pope’s hands - that’s apocryphal)[[/note]], thus inaugurating the '''First Empire''' (again, they didn't call it that at the time). He set about conquering Europe. The other European powers ganged up on him in various ways, with limited success. But, beginning with his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, he overextended himself militarily, and was defeated and forced to abdicate in 1814. Exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba (as its ruler), he escaped back to France and raised another army, a period known as "The Hundred Days" [[note]](not completely accurate, but close enough)[[/note]]. Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled, rather more permanently, to the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena.
* After Napoleon was safely out of everyone's way, Louis XVI's brother, also named Louis, took the throne as Louis XVIII of France[[note]] their full, non-regnal names were Louis-Auguste (XVI) and Louis Stanislas Xavier (XVIII); Louis ''XVII'' was Louis XVI’s 8-year-old son Louis-Charles, who was considered to have inherited the title at his father’s death, though he was never crowned or anointed, and died aged 10, a prisoner of the Republic[[/note]]. This period is thus known as the '''Restoration.''' Louis XVIII reigned fairly uneventfully, leaving the throne to his other brother, Charles X. [[note]]Born Charles Philippe, since you asked.[[/note]] The monarchy under the Restoration was more or less constitutional, but the king wielded great power, and Charles in particular longed for the might of Louis XIV; at the very least, he wanted to be rid of the pesky parliamentarians and their elections.
* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
* After eighteen years, however, many of the king's middle-class, liberal supporters began to chafe at the slow pace of reform under Louis-Philippe. In February 1848, revolution broke out, Louis-Philippe abdicated, and the '''Second Republic''' was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's [[ObfuscatingStupidity seemingly-inept]] nephew. He promptly overthrew the government in a military coup d'etat and held a rigged plebiscite granting him absolute power.
* Flush with victory and a spirit rather like his uncle's, Louis-Napoleon proclaimed the '''Second Empire''' in 1852, declaring himself "Napoleon III" (on the theory that Napoleon's infant son had become "Napoleon II" after Uncle Nap's abdication [[note]]Napoleon had formally declared his son to be this, and demanded recognition of this as a condition of his surrender and abdication, but was refused and forced to surrender unconditionally, renouncing all his descendants' right to rule[[/note]]), thus earning the dubious distinction of becoming both the first elected president and last monarch of France's history. Napoleon III got France involved in wars (against Austria in Italy and against Russia on the Crimea) and foreign adventures, like the disastrous attempt to install an emperor in Mexico. In 1870, Napoleon fell into a trap and at war with [[MagnificentBastard Otto von Bismarck]]'s {{Prussia}}. Briefly put, the Prussians, commanding several other German states as well, roundly kicked France's ass, leading Napoleon III to go into exile in England after his release from captivity in Kassel (former residence of one of his other uncles, King Jérôme Bonaparte of Westphalia). Bismarck declared the [[ImperialGermany German Empire]] at the Palace of Versailles, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Paris was taken over by leftists in an episode known as the Paris Commune, but they were bloodily crushed after 70 days [[note]]The Commune is pretty much the first actual application of Socialism, during which the song ''L'Internationale'' was written. As brief as it was, some modern left-wing parties such as the Left Front still attach a great importance to it.[[/note]]. But by the end of 1871, the time had come for a stable government, leading to...
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri, comte de Chambord, was an elderly childless bachelor, meaning that they could have him become King and name the Orléanist claimant, Louis-Philippe's son Philippe, comte de Paris, as his heir. All it would take to make this work was the assent of both of the royals in question. Philippe had no problem waiting, as anticipated. But although the comte de Chambord was willing to hand the heirship to the throne to the comte de Paris,[[note]]He had the strongest claim anyway...unless you claim that Louis XIV had no right to give up his grandson Philip's claim to the French throne with the Treaty of Utrecht that settled the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession...yes, royalist politics can get a bit odd at times.[[/note]] he refused to become a constitutional figurehead monarch ruling under the republican tricolor (which is what almost everybody wanted--even the Legitimists). So the royalists took to waiting until he died, so Philippe could take the throne. And they waited. And waited. And waited. And for six years the man would not die. Eventually, people got tired of waiting, and before Chambord (1820-1883) could kick the bucket, the French people decided that monarchy really wasn't on anymore if the fate of the country could be decided by the matter of one man's opinions about a ''flag'' and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time (as a result, republicans like Georges Clemenceau joked that the comte de Chambord was "the French [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]]": the man without whom the Republic would not exist). After a big crisis on 17 May 1877 (involving a constitutional dispute between a monarchist president and republican parliament) the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances.
* In 1940, France was attacked and partially occupied by UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. After their surrender, what remained of the Third Republic government established the Nazi-sympathetic, vaguely fascist ''Etat Français'' ("French State"), better known as the '''[[LesCollaborateurs Vichy Regime]]''', named after the little town in the middle of the country that they moved their operations to. Though technically the whole country was subject to the Vichy Regime, and indeed it operated the civil administration all over France, the Germans occupied northern France, while southern France (minus Nice, occupied by UsefulNotes/FascistItaly) was basically German-free until 1942.
* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France, but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. When de Gaulle started negotiating with the Algerian nationalists, parts of the French army attempted a military coup which [[EpicFail failed in three days]]. The Fifth French Republic is the current one.
France under the Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential unitary system, with both a President and a Prime Minister. This means, in theory, that both the President and PM have quite a bit of power. In RealLife, however, it means:
* France's leader is the President when his party has the majority in the Parliament.
* When the President's party does not have the majority in the Parliament, France's leader is the Prime Minister, except with diplomacy and military matters, where the responsibilities are shared. This is called "cohabitation" and it can be tense, especially when the two most important men in France hate each other's guts. Since 2002, both the president and the parliament have 5-year terms which makes cohabitation a lot less likely. It has however happened three times in the past:
** When François Mitterrand (left-wing) was President and Jacques Chirac (right-wing) was Prime Minister, 1986-1988.
** When François Mitterrand (left-wing) was President and Édouard Balladur (right-wing) was Prime Minister, 1993-1995.
** When Jacques Chirac (right-wing) was President and Lionel Jospin (left-wing) was Prime Minister, 1997-2002.
The president was elected for seven years until a reform in 2000 that turned it into a five-year term. The goal was to synchronize the presidential election with the legislative one, eliminating or at least seriously reducing the odds of a cohabitation. The presidential election is in two turns: usually more than ten candidates run for the office, and only two remain during the second turn. This leads to one of the more likely scenarios for a future cohabitation: if there were to be another repeat of the 2002 race (in which the far-right candidate managed to make it into the second round because the mainstream left was [[WeAreStrugglingTogether too fractured]], giving the center-right candidate an easy second-round victory; theoretically the opposite could happen but it's unlikely as historically there are fewer right-wing parties and presidential candidates), and the left is less unpopular than the Socialists were in 2002 and actually manage to win a parliamentary majority, it's not inconceivable that you could get a cohabitation then.
The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often levelled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
The president of the Senate is the "second most important person of the State". While not as powerful as the PM, if the President of the Republic dies or is incapacitated, the Senate president assumes his function until the President comes back to work or a new President is elected [[note]]this has happened twice in recent history, namely following Charles de Gaulle's resignation as president and, some 5 years later, Georges Pompidou's death while in office[[/note]]. Finally the economic, social and ecological council, which is made up of representatives of "professional organizations" (yep: trade unions have their own legislative chamber in France), is the third and least powerful chamber. (It only has a consultative role, yet going against it too often is not the smartest thing to do, being akin to declaring war against the very [[HotBlooded easy to anger]] French unions. God knows how many governments have lost elections or became powerless because they pissed them off.)
The Constitutional Council supervises elections and rules on the constitutionality of laws both before and after they take effect. In this respect, it is similar to the United States Supreme Court, although it is not at the top of the judicial hierarchy. The French have an allergy to judicial power and judge-made law dating back to the ''parlements'' (which were law courts) of the ''[[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi ancien regime]]'', and as such have developed a highly complex and overlapping judicial system designed to confound the ability of judges to act as a check on the other two branches; as a result, the Constitutional Council is one of three high judicial bodies in France. The "Cour de Cassation" is the court of last resort for all judicial cases (civil and criminal) and is the only one of the three bodies that is strictly judicial. The "Conseil d'Etat" (lit. Council of State) --which also has some advisory functions to the executive--for all administrative cases. The members of the Constitutional Council are 9 councilors nominated by the "three presidents" (President of the Republic, president of the National Assembly and president of the Senate). Former Presidents of the Republic are rightful members. The council currently has 12 members, with three surviving former Presidents of the Republic : Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Although Nicolas Sarkozy has since resigned from it, since 1. members of the Constitutional Council are supposed to stay neutral with regard to party politics and 2. because the CC decided to invalidate his 2012 presidential campaign funds.
France used to be a very centralized country (Paris' urban area still has almost 20% of the population), but in recent times political power has become more decentralized; this is just as well, since France really is quite diverse and benefits when government recognizes that. France is divided in [[UsefulNotes/DepartementalIssues 26 semi-autonomous Regions, 101 Departments]] (the most recent admitted being the teensy island of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte Mayotte]]), and more than 36,000 towns, cities, and villages: each of those subdivisions has its own responsibilities and control over its budget. By an ironic twist of fate, until recently, while the President and National Assembly were conservative, most big cities, 60% of the Departments and '''all but one''' Regions were left-wing ruled. This, of course, created more tension between the state and the local collectivities. In October 2011, the left also gained a majority in Senate, for the first time in the Fifth Republic, but lost it in 2014. The PS also lost many departments to the right in the 2015 departmental elections.
Currently, the main parties of French politics − at least those you are likely to hear or read about in the media − are (from left to right) [[note]]Note the words "liberal" and "liberalism" refer to right-wing, liberal capitalism here, not leftism.[[/note]]
[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-lutteouvrierelogo_5647.jpg]]
* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]''. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
** Their candidate for the 2012 presidential election was ''Nathalie Arthaud'' (economy and management teacher). She scored 0.5%.
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* '''[[color:firebrick:Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste]]''' (NPA, New Anticapitalist Party): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A refoundation of an old Trotskyst party (the Revolutionary Communist League, LCR), led by young postman Olivier Besancenot until recently, composed of and led by mostly non-professional militants, and proud of this fact. They put an emphasis on ecological and social issues and like the previous party, they consider only social struggle brings any change. Their current spokeswoman is Christine Poupin (although you're more likely to read about Philippe Poutou or Olivier Besancenot in the media).
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Philippe Poutou'' (worker and union leader in a car factory). He scored 1.5%.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%); the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]]; the Unitary Left (GU) led by Christian Picquet, a scission from the NPA (which didn't join the Left Front); and six other small formations − four of which recently fused to form the party "Ensemble" (Together) and have more weight within the Front. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%.
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* '''[[color:green:Europe-Écologie/Les Verts]]''' (EELV, Europe-Ecology/The Greens): A fusion between the old Green party and a more recent party led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a famous figure of the May 68 protests who is now more of a centrist. Currently, the party is led by Émanuelle Cosse. The political spectrum within the alliance is quite large, from de-growth activists to centrist liberals. Thus, the political line of the party is rather blurry, but mostly on the center-left. During the 2012 election, they forged an agreement with the Socialist Party and participated in their government until April 2014. The party's ministers had said in 2013 that they would leave the government should the ostensibly rightwing(and then minister of the interior) Manuel Valls become prime minister. Which is exactly what happened after the 2014 city council elections.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Éva Joly'' (a former Franco-Norwegian examining judge). She scored 2.5%.
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* '''[[color:hotpink:Parti Socialiste]]''' (PS): The party currently in power, once a left-wing party, created in 1969. [[note]]Initially there was one big socialist party called SFIO (''Section française de l'internationale ouvrière'', French Section of the Workers' International), then after the Tours congress in 1920, a majority joined the Third Communist International and became the French Communist Party, while the rest stayed away from it and became the Socialist Party in 1969. That's a very brief summary but we won't go into the details of the French left's tumultuous and convoluted history here[[/note]] Although it implemented a few acclaimed social reforms while in power (like the death penalty abolition, the Minimum Income of Insertion, the Tax on Large Fortunes or the 35 hours working week), since the mid-80s, its economic views have progressively switched to the right, making it some kind of French Democratic Party. [[ArtifactTitle So it's now "socialist" in name only.]] Now led by Jean-Christophe Cambadélis… [[BigScrewedUpFamily or by God only knows who.]]
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Hollande'' (deputy of the Corrèze department). He scored 28% in the first round and won the second round with 51,5%.
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* '''[[color:darkorange:Mouvement Démocrate]]''' ([=MoDem=]): the main centrist party, founded by the former lead of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), François Bayrou (deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantique at the time and now mayor of Pau). Economically mildly liberal, it created a surprise in 2007 with a score of 18,5%, [[OneEpisodeWonder but nothing ensued from it]]. Bayrou explicitly cites the American Democrats as an inspiration (hard to believe, we know, but the "neither socialist nor conservative" thing is actually kind of appealing to some in France), and actually tried to call his party ''Parti démocrate'', but learned that some dinky party nobody had ever heard of already had the name, which apparently pissed Bayrou off to no end.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Bayrou'' once more. He scored 9.5%.
** Basically half the UDF already split to join Alain Juppé/ Jacques Chirac to found the UMP in 2002. Bayrou was not one of them. Then, in 2007, virtually all of what was left of the UDF dumped him to found the Nouveau Centre under Hervé Morin, which then promptly joined a coalition with the UMP and was mostly absorbed by them, until the 2012 election, where Nicolas Sarkozy is perceived to have ditched the centrists to try to please the far-right (basically, ''not'' doing what got him elected in 2007, which worked just as well as you can imagine). What was left of centrists still loyal to the UMP at this point left to form:
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* '''Union des Démocrates et Indépendants''' (UDI): A new party created after the 2012 elections by Jean-Louis Borloo (a former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy) and member of the Radical Party, to try and unite the "centrist wing" after Bayrou seemingly failed to do so. They have some deputies, so time will tell if they manage to gather a solid electorate. Notable members/supporters include former President Valéry Giscard-d'Estaing and Simone Veil, Auschwitz survivor and minister of health under Giscard who legalised abortion back in TheSeventies. As of January 2014 they've entered into an alliance of sorts with Bayrou for the nationwide city council elections and European elections, so basically it looks like the UDI is going to be roughly ''exactly'' what the UDF had been pre-2002. [[SarcasmMode Well that was useful.]]
** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]].
* '''[[color:darkviolet:Debout la République]]''' (DLR, "Rise Up, Republic!"): Formerly a current within the UMP, led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it seceded and became an independent party in 2007, to represent the nominally Gaullist right-wing. They promote a Keynesian flavour of capitalism rather than what they perceive as the deregulated, neo-liberal capitalism of the EU, as well as a confederal model for UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion. Critical of the European Commission for being unelected. They also promote the Euro as a common reference currency (with national currencies in parallel) rather than a single currency.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Nicolas Dupont-Aignan'' (Deputy of the Essone department). He scored 2%.
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans".
** Their candidate for 2012 was the outgoing president, ''Nicolas Sarkozy''. He scored 27% in the first round but was beaten in the second round with 48,5%.
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* '''[[color:darkslategray:Front National]]''' (FN): The main nationalist party and third major party in number of voters. It was founded in TheSeventies by a bunch of people nostalgic of Vichy or French Algeria, and was originally little more than a groupuscule before its sudden rise in the mid-eighties. Its most famous figure Jean-Marie Le Pen was consistently seen as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain because of his often sulfurous statements. In 2011, his daughter Marine won an internal election to become the president of the party, beating Bruno Gollnisch. One could argue that the party's line has shifted from blatant antisemitism and racism, to the populist islamophobia popular in much of Europe. Marine Le Pen is by all accounts, if nothing else, not nearly as antisemitic as her father was [[note]] Very, ''very'' ironically, she enjoys support from some of the more conservative of French Jews, which would have been absolutely unthinkable ten years ago, due in part to her views on Islam and the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict[[/note]]; on the other hand, she once infamously compared Muslim street prayers to [[GodwinsLaw the Nazi occupation]]. Her main battlehorses are defending Catholic values against the "Islamization" of France, curbing immigration and fighting insecurity ([[UnfortunateImplications which the FN considers to stem from immigration]]); they are also against the Euro currency and promote the return of the death penalty in France. A notable difference in the FN's newer style of politics is a strikingly Left Front-esque focus on Finance and neoliberalism in TheNewTens (think a socially-conservative version of Geert Wilders), and a communication strategy commonly refered to as "dédiabolisation" ("de-demonization"), that seeks to polish the image of the party in the media. With undubitable success, [[{{Irony}} mostly thanks to the media themselves]]. Notable for reaching the second turn in 2002, dovetailing the socialist candidate with 17%; if French people talk about "April 21", it refers to this. It was that big a shock. The 2014 European Parliament election, in which the FN beat all of the other establishment parties and came in first, was an even bigger one.
** Their candidate for 2012 was Marine Le Pen (Member of European Parliament). She scored 18%. [[note]] Since she scored 18% in the latest presidential election, which was even more than what got her father to the runoff stage of the election in 2002, but the party itself went on to get either 1 or 2 seats (depending on who you count) out of several hundred in the National Assembly, the FN (along with the centrists, the Greens and the Left Front for somewhat obvious reasons) are the most vocal proponents of changing the electoral system to a proportional-ish system. There's a somewhat similar debate in the UK, although the current electoral systems aren't the same (the UK has FPTP while France mostly has two-stage runoff elections). Mitterrand had actually switched to proportional voting for the 1986 parliamentary election, mainly to try and prevent a Socialist loss, with the predictable effect of the FN winning seats in the National Assembly, and the whole thing being scrapped and two-stage runoffs being brought back in 1988.[[/note]]
** By the way, her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who contrary to her aunt actually made it to the Parliament, is effectively the FN's only elected MP [[note]]two more, Gilbert Collard and Jacques Bompard, have largely similar views, and Collard was elected under the same list as Le Pen, but of the three only she is an actual party member.[[/note]] She's also the youngest MP of the current legislature at the tender age of 23, a distinction she shares with her grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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!!Depictions in fiction
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' was mentioned above as being set during the July Monarchy. This is true: the majority of the book's action, and its most famous scenes, concern the student revolts of 1832. But Victor Hugo's epic spans a far greater period of time. The book's first viewpoint character, the Bishop of Digne, is described as a nobleman who escaped the Terror and once met Emperor Napoleon. Fantine, an orphan, was born in that same era, when there was no church and legal records were chaotic. Many years later, when Jean Valjean finds Cosette, he slips a gold Louis into her shoe on Christmas Eve, setting her adoption as during the Restoration -- all this in the first half of the book.
** It also contains one of the most famous literary depictions of the battle of Waterloo.
* The film ''Les enfants du paradis'' is set during the July Monarchy and is in itself an interesting document of French history as its production was begun under German occupation (some of the people involved, e. g. composer Joseph Kosma, hiding out from the Nazis) and finished after the liberation of Paris.
* The French comic book ''Quai d'Orsay'' by Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac: an AffectionateParody of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under "Taillard de Vorms", a transparent Dominique de Villepin {{Expy}}. [[note]]Americans may remember de Villepin as being that French foreign minister who gave that speech at the UN defending France's veto to a UsefulNotes/UnitedNations-sanctioned military intervention in Iraq, leading to the whole CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys and FreedomFries deal.[[/note]] Abel Lanzac is actually the pen name of a former diplomat, so a decent case of ShownTheirWork.
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-->--'''Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen''', 1789[[note]]Whole text on [[Quotes/FrenchPoliticalSystem quotes page]][[/note]]
France is famous for [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution having gone from a monarchy to a republic]], but its political system has changed no fewer than ten--that's right, '''ten'''--times since Louis XVI's head came off in 1793.
''Presidents of the Fifth Republic are now listed on the UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfFrance page, along with the other French presidents.''
* Firstly, France attempted to form a Republic--the '''First Republic''' (though of course, they didn't call it that at the time), which can be divided into roughly three parts. The first bit was the infamous ReignOfTerror, in which there was no formal executive (the National Convention ran everything), but Robespierre, through his "Committee of Public Safety," ran the show. Then came The Thermidorian Reaction, in which the Reign of Terror ended; this happened in July 1794. The Reaction instituted a "[[CorruptPolitician Directory]]" of five men to hold executive power in France (an arrangement inspired by, of all things, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Constitution_of_1776 Pennsylvania]]). This went on for five years, until, in 1799, General NapoleonBonaparte seized power, more or less forcing the Assembly to declare him "First Consul of the Republic," inaugurating the "Consulate" in which, despite there being three Consuls, the First Consul held a truly remarkable amount of power. However, it was still a republic...[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny wasn't it]]?
* Napoleon, deciding that being First Consul really didn't suit him, had himself declared Emperor of the French in 1804 [[note]](he did not, however, snatch his crown from the Pope’s hands - that’s apocryphal)[[/note]], thus inaugurating the '''First Empire''' (again, they didn't call it that at the time). He set about conquering Europe. The other European powers ganged up on him in various ways, with limited success. But, beginning with his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, he overextended himself militarily, and was defeated and forced to abdicate in 1814. Exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba (as its ruler), he escaped back to France and raised another army, a period known as "The Hundred Days" [[note]](not completely accurate, but close enough)[[/note]]. Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled, rather more permanently, to the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena.
* After Napoleon was safely out of everyone's way, Louis XVI's brother, also named Louis, took the throne as Louis XVIII of France[[note]] their full, non-regnal names were Louis-Auguste (XVI) and Louis Stanislas Xavier (XVIII); Louis ''XVII'' was Louis XVI’s 8-year-old son Louis-Charles, who was considered to have inherited the title at his father’s death, though he was never crowned or anointed, and died aged 10, a prisoner of the Republic[[/note]]. This period is thus known as the '''Restoration.''' Louis XVIII reigned fairly uneventfully, leaving the throne to his other brother, Charles X. [[note]]Born Charles Philippe, since you asked.[[/note]] The monarchy under the Restoration was more or less constitutional, but the king wielded great power, and Charles in particular longed for the might of Louis XIV; at the very least, he wanted to be rid of the pesky parliamentarians and their elections.
* Eventually, things came to a head, and in July 1830, riots broke out. Charles X was forced to abdicate; his more liberal cousin, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, was acclaimed "King of the French," and the constitutional '''July Monarchy''' was established. (''Literature/LesMiserables''[[note]]Specifically, volumes III-V of Les Misérables. Volume I begins in 1815, the year of Napoleon's return (though after his re-exile)[[/note]] is set here, against the tumult of the 1830 revolution and subsequent revolts. It also [[FanService inspired]] Eugène Delacroix's painting of the [[MostCommonSuperPower "liberated"]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg Liberty Leading the People]]''.)
* After eighteen years, however, many of the king's middle-class, liberal supporters began to chafe at the slow pace of reform under Louis-Philippe. In February 1848, revolution broke out, Louis-Philippe abdicated, and the '''Second Republic''' was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's [[ObfuscatingStupidity seemingly-inept]] nephew. He promptly overthrew the government in a military coup d'etat and held a rigged plebiscite granting him absolute power.
* Flush with victory and a spirit rather like his uncle's, Louis-Napoleon proclaimed the '''Second Empire''' in 1852, declaring himself "Napoleon III" (on the theory that Napoleon's infant son had become "Napoleon II" after Uncle Nap's abdication [[note]]Napoleon had formally declared his son to be this, and demanded recognition of this as a condition of his surrender and abdication, but was refused and forced to surrender unconditionally, renouncing all his descendants' right to rule[[/note]]), thus earning the dubious distinction of becoming both the first elected president and last monarch of France's history. Napoleon III got France involved in wars (against Austria in Italy and against Russia on the Crimea) and foreign adventures, like the disastrous attempt to install an emperor in Mexico. In 1870, Napoleon fell into a trap and at war with [[MagnificentBastard Otto von Bismarck]]'s {{Prussia}}. Briefly put, the Prussians, commanding several other German states as well, roundly kicked France's ass, leading Napoleon III to go into exile in England after his release from captivity in Kassel (former residence of one of his other uncles, King Jérôme Bonaparte of Westphalia). Bismarck declared the [[ImperialGermany German Empire]] at the Palace of Versailles, and annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Paris was taken over by leftists in an episode known as the Paris Commune, but they were bloodily crushed after 70 days [[note]]The Commune is pretty much the first actual application of Socialism, during which the song ''L'Internationale'' was written. As brief as it was, some modern left-wing parties such as the Left Front still attach a great importance to it.[[/note]]. But by the end of 1871, the time had come for a stable government, leading to...
* The '''Third Republic'''. This was proclaimed after Napoleon III surrendered to the German armies at Sedan in 1870, but the subsequent course of the war meant that its provisional government had to leave Paris and only returned, first to Versailles, then to Paris, after the peace treaty with the new German Empire was concluded. The early years were dominated by disputes among the two flavors of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were by and large aristocratic and/or deeply Catholic and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. Between them, they had a large majority, and the Orléanists had a plurality, so they sought to make a deal--you know, standard parliamentary negotiations. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king--and on that front, they found themselves (they thought) in luck. As it happened, Charles X's only grandson, Henri, comte de Chambord, was an elderly childless bachelor, meaning that they could have him become King and name the Orléanist claimant, Louis-Philippe's son Philippe, comte de Paris, as his heir. All it would take to make this work was the assent of both of the royals in question. Philippe had no problem waiting, as anticipated. But although the comte de Chambord was willing to hand the heirship to the throne to the comte de Paris,[[note]]He had the strongest claim anyway...unless you claim that Louis XIV had no right to give up his grandson Philip's claim to the French throne with the Treaty of Utrecht that settled the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession...yes, royalist politics can get a bit odd at times.[[/note]] he refused to become a constitutional figurehead monarch ruling under the republican tricolor (which is what almost everybody wanted--even the Legitimists). So the royalists took to waiting until he died, so Philippe could take the throne. And they waited. And waited. And waited. And for six years the man would not die. Eventually, people got tired of waiting, and before Chambord (1820-1883) could kick the bucket, the French people decided that monarchy really wasn't on anymore if the fate of the country could be decided by the matter of one man's opinions about a ''flag'' and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time (as a result, republicans like Georges Clemenceau joked that the comte de Chambord was "the French [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]]": the man without whom the Republic would not exist). After a big crisis on 17 May 1877 (involving a constitutional dispute between a monarchist president and republican parliament) the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances.
* In 1940, France was attacked and partially occupied by UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. After their surrender, what remained of the Third Republic government established the Nazi-sympathetic, vaguely fascist ''Etat Français'' ("French State"), better known as the '''[[LesCollaborateurs Vichy Regime]]''', named after the little town in the middle of the country that they moved their operations to. Though technically the whole country was subject to the Vichy Regime, and indeed it operated the civil administration all over France, the Germans occupied northern France, while southern France (minus Nice, occupied by UsefulNotes/FascistItaly) was basically German-free until 1942.
* '''The Fourth Republic''' was established after the Second World War. More or less a revival of the Third Republic, it was doing okay until most of France's [[TheFrenchColonialEmpire colonies]] decided they wanted independence, which brought France into several devastating wars: the First Indochina War, 1946-1954, brought Vietnam its independence [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar for a bit]]. Shortly after, the Algerian region demanded independence. This was not a simple matter: Algeria was not just part of France, but ''also'' home to a million ''pieds-noirs'' (lit. "black feet"), ethnic-French citizens descended from the previous century's settlement efforts, and they were determined to fight in Algeria "down to the last suitcase". France did so (to the point where Arabs to this day know the Algerian War of Independence as the "War of a Million Martyrs") until it became obvious that she couldn't pour the resources she needed into the war-effort without wrecking her economy and that the tide of public opinion within France itself had turned. (Algeria would gain independence in 1962.) Complicating matters was that the government shared the woeful instability of the Third Republic: elections happened far more frequently than they really should have, and nobody could keep a majority in Parliament for very long. The first president of the Fourth Republic, Vincent Auriol, endured ''18'' different governments in a seven-year term in office; on leaving he stated, "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers!" These two forces together--the failure to fight the colonial wars properly and chronic political instability--led to the eventual agreement that a new arrangement was necessary.
* Sections of the French army agreed with the French population in Algeria and partly backed former war hero UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who recommended the creation of the '''Fifth French Republic''' in 1958. When de Gaulle started negotiating with the Algerian nationalists, parts of the French army attempted a military coup which [[EpicFail failed in three days]]. The Fifth French Republic is the current one.
France under the Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential unitary system, with both a President and a Prime Minister. This means, in theory, that both the President and PM have quite a bit of power. In RealLife, however, it means:
* France's leader is the President when his party has the majority in the Parliament.
* When the President's party does not have the majority in the Parliament, France's leader is the Prime Minister, except with diplomacy and military matters, where the responsibilities are shared. This is called "cohabitation" and it can be tense, especially when the two most important men in France hate each other's guts. Since 2002, both the president and the parliament have 5-year terms which makes cohabitation a lot less likely. It has however happened three times in the past:
** When François Mitterrand (left-wing) was President and Jacques Chirac (right-wing) was Prime Minister, 1986-1988.
** When François Mitterrand (left-wing) was President and Édouard Balladur (right-wing) was Prime Minister, 1993-1995.
** When Jacques Chirac (right-wing) was President and Lionel Jospin (left-wing) was Prime Minister, 1997-2002.
The president was elected for seven years until a reform in 2000 that turned it into a five-year term. The goal was to synchronize the presidential election with the legislative one, eliminating or at least seriously reducing the odds of a cohabitation. The presidential election is in two turns: usually more than ten candidates run for the office, and only two remain during the second turn. This leads to one of the more likely scenarios for a future cohabitation: if there were to be another repeat of the 2002 race (in which the far-right candidate managed to make it into the second round because the mainstream left was [[WeAreStrugglingTogether too fractured]], giving the center-right candidate an easy second-round victory; theoretically the opposite could happen but it's unlikely as historically there are fewer right-wing parties and presidential candidates), and the left is less unpopular than the Socialists were in 2002 and actually manage to win a parliamentary majority, it's not inconceivable that you could get a cohabitation then.
The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature: the lower house (the National Assembly) is elected via Second Ballot (think Louisiana's run-off system), the PM is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes PM (theoretically, the president chooses whoever he wants, but the PM needs the approval of the National Assembly to govern). The Senate is elected by a college of 150,000 great electors (all of them being elected officials, like deputies in the National Assembly, Mayors of the 36.000 French towns, etc...), and co-write the laws with the National Assembly: because its members are not directly elected, they are usually less known than the Deputies [[note]]and when they ''are'' better-known then their same-party NA counterparts, for instance if they've made the government or are party leaders, for instance Jean-Louis Borloo (UDI), Jean-Pierre Raffarin (former PM, UMP), or José Bové (EELV) [[CanonDisplacement they tend to be assumed to be deputies]] -- sometimes, they aren't deputies OR senators or haven't been for years, as with Christian-Democrat [[TheTemplar Christine]] [[TangledFamilyTree Boutin]][[/note]], and often accused of being in the Senate because they were unable to win a "real" election. The same criticism is often levelled at candidates to the European Parliament, which is one of a number of reasons why few French voters care about the European elections.
The president of the Senate is the "second most important person of the State". While not as powerful as the PM, if the President of the Republic dies or is incapacitated, the Senate president assumes his function until the President comes back to work or a new President is elected [[note]]this has happened twice in recent history, namely following Charles de Gaulle's resignation as president and, some 5 years later, Georges Pompidou's death while in office[[/note]]. Finally the economic, social and ecological council, which is made up of representatives of "professional organizations" (yep: trade unions have their own legislative chamber in France), is the third and least powerful chamber. (It only has a consultative role, yet going against it too often is not the smartest thing to do, being akin to declaring war against the very [[HotBlooded easy to anger]] French unions. God knows how many governments have lost elections or became powerless because they pissed them off.)
The Constitutional Council supervises elections and rules on the constitutionality of laws both before and after they take effect. In this respect, it is similar to the United States Supreme Court, although it is not at the top of the judicial hierarchy. The French have an allergy to judicial power and judge-made law dating back to the ''parlements'' (which were law courts) of the ''[[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi ancien regime]]'', and as such have developed a highly complex and overlapping judicial system designed to confound the ability of judges to act as a check on the other two branches; as a result, the Constitutional Council is one of three high judicial bodies in France. The "Cour de Cassation" is the court of last resort for all judicial cases (civil and criminal) and is the only one of the three bodies that is strictly judicial. The "Conseil d'Etat" (lit. Council of State) --which also has some advisory functions to the executive--for all administrative cases. The members of the Constitutional Council are 9 councilors nominated by the "three presidents" (President of the Republic, president of the National Assembly and president of the Senate). Former Presidents of the Republic are rightful members. The council currently has 12 members, with three surviving former Presidents of the Republic : Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Although Nicolas Sarkozy has since resigned from it, since 1. members of the Constitutional Council are supposed to stay neutral with regard to party politics and 2. because the CC decided to invalidate his 2012 presidential campaign funds.
France used to be a very centralized country (Paris' urban area still has almost 20% of the population), but in recent times political power has become more decentralized; this is just as well, since France really is quite diverse and benefits when government recognizes that. France is divided in [[UsefulNotes/DepartementalIssues 26 semi-autonomous Regions, 101 Departments]] (the most recent admitted being the teensy island of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte Mayotte]]), and more than 36,000 towns, cities, and villages: each of those subdivisions has its own responsibilities and control over its budget. By an ironic twist of fate, until recently, while the President and National Assembly were conservative, most big cities, 60% of the Departments and '''all but one''' Regions were left-wing ruled. This, of course, created more tension between the state and the local collectivities. In October 2011, the left also gained a majority in Senate, for the first time in the Fifth Republic, but lost it in 2014. The PS also lost many departments to the right in the 2015 departmental elections.
Currently, the main parties of French politics − at least those you are likely to hear or read about in the media − are (from left to right) [[note]]Note the words "liberal" and "liberalism" refer to right-wing, liberal capitalism here, not leftism.[[/note]]
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* '''[[color:darkred:Lutte Ouvrière]]''' (LO, Workers' Struggle): A (very) old Trotskyist party which gives great importance to the defense of workers' rights and revolution. Formerly led by Arlette Laguiller, who was the first woman to run in a French presidential election. Which she did ''[[{{Determinator}} 6 successive times]]''. The party is notorious for its utter refusal to make alliances with anyone, even the ideologically close NPA.
** Their candidate for the 2012 presidential election was ''Nathalie Arthaud'' (economy and management teacher). She scored 0.5%.
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* '''[[color:firebrick:Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste]]''' (NPA, New Anticapitalist Party): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A refoundation of an old Trotskyst party (the Revolutionary Communist League, LCR), led by young postman Olivier Besancenot until recently, composed of and led by mostly non-professional militants, and proud of this fact. They put an emphasis on ecological and social issues and like the previous party, they consider only social struggle brings any change. Their current spokeswoman is Christine Poupin (although you're more likely to read about Philippe Poutou or Olivier Besancenot in the media).
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Philippe Poutou'' (worker and union leader in a car factory). He scored 1.5%.
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* '''[[color:red:Front De Gauche]]''' ([=FdG=], Left Front): A gathering of several radical left-wing parties engaged in 2009. It includes the French Communist Party (PCF) led by Pierre Laurent, which was nearly dead after its disastrous score in 2007 (2%); the Left Party (PG) founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon [[DefectorFromDecadence who slammed the PS's door because of its increasingly right-wing orientations]]; the Unitary Left (GU) led by Christian Picquet, a scission from the NPA (which didn't join the Left Front); and six other small formations − four of which recently fused to form the party "Ensemble" (Together) and have more weight within the Front. The Left Front calls for a Constituency Assembly and a Sixth Republic, as well as a maximum income. Their ideas are mostly similar to the NPA, except they promote change through both popular involvement and elections. Lately they have started to promote the idea of "eco-socialism", a vision of socialism that feeds on ecological reflexion. While they had called to vote for Hollande ([[ExactWords or rather, against Sarkozy]]) in the second round of the 2012 election and initially were in a kind of "let's see how he will do" posture, they are now in a clear-cut opposition to his government.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Jean-Luc Mélenchon'' (Member of European Parliament). He scored 11%.
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* '''[[color:green:Europe-Écologie/Les Verts]]''' (EELV, Europe-Ecology/The Greens): A fusion between the old Green party and a more recent party led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a famous figure of the May 68 protests who is now more of a centrist. Currently, the party is led by Émanuelle Cosse. The political spectrum within the alliance is quite large, from de-growth activists to centrist liberals. Thus, the political line of the party is rather blurry, but mostly on the center-left. During the 2012 election, they forged an agreement with the Socialist Party and participated in their government until April 2014. The party's ministers had said in 2013 that they would leave the government should the ostensibly rightwing(and then minister of the interior) Manuel Valls become prime minister. Which is exactly what happened after the 2014 city council elections.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Éva Joly'' (a former Franco-Norwegian examining judge). She scored 2.5%.
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* '''[[color:hotpink:Parti Socialiste]]''' (PS): The party currently in power, once a left-wing party, created in 1969. [[note]]Initially there was one big socialist party called SFIO (''Section française de l'internationale ouvrière'', French Section of the Workers' International), then after the Tours congress in 1920, a majority joined the Third Communist International and became the French Communist Party, while the rest stayed away from it and became the Socialist Party in 1969. That's a very brief summary but we won't go into the details of the French left's tumultuous and convoluted history here[[/note]] Although it implemented a few acclaimed social reforms while in power (like the death penalty abolition, the Minimum Income of Insertion, the Tax on Large Fortunes or the 35 hours working week), since the mid-80s, its economic views have progressively switched to the right, making it some kind of French Democratic Party. [[ArtifactTitle So it's now "socialist" in name only.]] Now led by Jean-Christophe Cambadélis… [[BigScrewedUpFamily or by God only knows who.]]
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Hollande'' (deputy of the Corrèze department). He scored 28% in the first round and won the second round with 51,5%.
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* '''[[color:darkorange:Mouvement Démocrate]]''' ([=MoDem=]): the main centrist party, founded by the former lead of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), François Bayrou (deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantique at the time and now mayor of Pau). Economically mildly liberal, it created a surprise in 2007 with a score of 18,5%, [[OneEpisodeWonder but nothing ensued from it]]. Bayrou explicitly cites the American Democrats as an inspiration (hard to believe, we know, but the "neither socialist nor conservative" thing is actually kind of appealing to some in France), and actually tried to call his party ''Parti démocrate'', but learned that some dinky party nobody had ever heard of already had the name, which apparently pissed Bayrou off to no end.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''François Bayrou'' once more. He scored 9.5%.
** Basically half the UDF already split to join Alain Juppé/ Jacques Chirac to found the UMP in 2002. Bayrou was not one of them. Then, in 2007, virtually all of what was left of the UDF dumped him to found the Nouveau Centre under Hervé Morin, which then promptly joined a coalition with the UMP and was mostly absorbed by them, until the 2012 election, where Nicolas Sarkozy is perceived to have ditched the centrists to try to please the far-right (basically, ''not'' doing what got him elected in 2007, which worked just as well as you can imagine). What was left of centrists still loyal to the UMP at this point left to form:
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* '''Union des Démocrates et Indépendants''' (UDI): A new party created after the 2012 elections by Jean-Louis Borloo (a former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy) and member of the Radical Party, to try and unite the "centrist wing" after Bayrou seemingly failed to do so. They have some deputies, so time will tell if they manage to gather a solid electorate. Notable members/supporters include former President Valéry Giscard-d'Estaing and Simone Veil, Auschwitz survivor and minister of health under Giscard who legalised abortion back in TheSeventies. As of January 2014 they've entered into an alliance of sorts with Bayrou for the nationwide city council elections and European elections, so basically it looks like the UDI is going to be roughly ''exactly'' what the UDF had been pre-2002. [[SarcasmMode Well that was useful.]]
** They didn't have a candidate in 2012, [[CaptainObvious since they didn't exist]].
* '''[[color:darkviolet:Debout la République]]''' (DLR, "Rise Up, Republic!"): Formerly a current within the UMP, led by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, it seceded and became an independent party in 2007, to represent the nominally Gaullist right-wing. They promote a Keynesian flavour of capitalism rather than what they perceive as the deregulated, neo-liberal capitalism of the EU, as well as a confederal model for UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion. Critical of the European Commission for being unelected. They also promote the Euro as a common reference currency (with national currencies in parallel) rather than a single currency.
** Their candidate for 2012 was ''Nicolas Dupont-Aignan'' (Deputy of the Essone department). He scored 2%.
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* '''[[color:blue:Union pour un Mouvement Populaire]]''' (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement): Founded in 2002 by Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppé, it's actually a gathering of several right-wing parties but is basically the successor of the former Rally For Republic (RPR). [[note]]In the very beginning, UMP used to mean ''"Union pour la majorité presidentielle"'' or "union for a presidential majority". Richard Nixon, anyone? Better try not to think too hard about it, ''honni soit qui mal y pense''.[[/note]] Known for its neoliberal economic views and its harsh positions on immigration and insecurity (even more so after Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead and wanted to attract far-right voters, although ostensibly so as to draw said voters away from the National Front). As the successor of the RPR, it's basically the Republican Party to the PS's Democratic Party. It was led by both Jean-François Copé and François Fillon after [[BigScrewedUpFamily the former won the internal election with a ridiculously tight margin but the latter refused to acknowledge his defeat, both sides accusing the other of fraud.]] [[TeethClenchedTeamwork So they had to reach a compromise.]] [[GrayAndGreyMorality The consensus among French people is that both probably did cheat, and so both are immensely unpopular.]] In November 2014, a new internal election was held, and, guess who, [[HesBack Nicolas Sarkozy]] was comfortably elected president of the party. In April 2015, Sarkozy decided out of nowhere to change the name of the party into… "The Republicans".
** Their candidate for 2012 was the outgoing president, ''Nicolas Sarkozy''. He scored 27% in the first round but was beaten in the second round with 48,5%.
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* '''[[color:darkslategray:Front National]]''' (FN): The main nationalist party and third major party in number of voters. It was founded in TheSeventies by a bunch of people nostalgic of Vichy or French Algeria, and was originally little more than a groupuscule before its sudden rise in the mid-eighties. Its most famous figure Jean-Marie Le Pen was consistently seen as a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain because of his often sulfurous statements. In 2011, his daughter Marine won an internal election to become the president of the party, beating Bruno Gollnisch. One could argue that the party's line has shifted from blatant antisemitism and racism, to the populist islamophobia popular in much of Europe. Marine Le Pen is by all accounts, if nothing else, not nearly as antisemitic as her father was [[note]] Very, ''very'' ironically, she enjoys support from some of the more conservative of French Jews, which would have been absolutely unthinkable ten years ago, due in part to her views on Islam and the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict[[/note]]; on the other hand, she once infamously compared Muslim street prayers to [[GodwinsLaw the Nazi occupation]]. Her main battlehorses are defending Catholic values against the "Islamization" of France, curbing immigration and fighting insecurity ([[UnfortunateImplications which the FN considers to stem from immigration]]); they are also against the Euro currency and promote the return of the death penalty in France. A notable difference in the FN's newer style of politics is a strikingly Left Front-esque focus on Finance and neoliberalism in TheNewTens (think a socially-conservative version of Geert Wilders), and a communication strategy commonly refered to as "dédiabolisation" ("de-demonization"), that seeks to polish the image of the party in the media. With undubitable success, [[{{Irony}} mostly thanks to the media themselves]]. Notable for reaching the second turn in 2002, dovetailing the socialist candidate with 17%; if French people talk about "April 21", it refers to this. It was that big a shock. The 2014 European Parliament election, in which the FN beat all of the other establishment parties and came in first, was an even bigger one.
** Their candidate for 2012 was Marine Le Pen (Member of European Parliament). She scored 18%. [[note]] Since she scored 18% in the latest presidential election, which was even more than what got her father to the runoff stage of the election in 2002, but the party itself went on to get either 1 or 2 seats (depending on who you count) out of several hundred in the National Assembly, the FN (along with the centrists, the Greens and the Left Front for somewhat obvious reasons) are the most vocal proponents of changing the electoral system to a proportional-ish system. There's a somewhat similar debate in the UK, although the current electoral systems aren't the same (the UK has FPTP while France mostly has two-stage runoff elections). Mitterrand had actually switched to proportional voting for the 1986 parliamentary election, mainly to try and prevent a Socialist loss, with the predictable effect of the FN winning seats in the National Assembly, and the whole thing being scrapped and two-stage runoffs being brought back in 1988.[[/note]]
** By the way, her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who contrary to her aunt actually made it to the Parliament, is effectively the FN's only elected MP [[note]]two more, Gilbert Collard and Jacques Bompard, have largely similar views, and Collard was elected under the same list as Le Pen, but of the three only she is an actual party member.[[/note]] She's also the youngest MP of the current legislature at the tender age of 23, a distinction she shares with her grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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!!Depictions in fiction
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' was mentioned above as being set during the July Monarchy. This is true: the majority of the book's action, and its most famous scenes, concern the student revolts of 1832. But Victor Hugo's epic spans a far greater period of time. The book's first viewpoint character, the Bishop of Digne, is described as a nobleman who escaped the Terror and once met Emperor Napoleon. Fantine, an orphan, was born in that same era, when there was no church and legal records were chaotic. Many years later, when Jean Valjean finds Cosette, he slips a gold Louis into her shoe on Christmas Eve, setting her adoption as during the Restoration -- all this in the first half of the book.
** It also contains one of the most famous literary depictions of the battle of Waterloo.
* The film ''Les enfants du paradis'' is set during the July Monarchy and is in itself an interesting document of French history as its production was begun under German occupation (some of the people involved, e. g. composer Joseph Kosma, hiding out from the Nazis) and finished after the liberation of Paris.
* The French comic book ''Quai d'Orsay'' by Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac: an AffectionateParody of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under "Taillard de Vorms", a transparent Dominique de Villepin {{Expy}}. [[note]]Americans may remember de Villepin as being that French foreign minister who gave that speech at the UN defending France's veto to a UsefulNotes/UnitedNations-sanctioned military intervention in Iraq, leading to the whole CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys and FreedomFries deal.[[/note]] Abel Lanzac is actually the pen name of a former diplomat, so a decent case of ShownTheirWork.
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