List of political systems in France

This is a chronological list of political systems in France, from Clovis () to modern times. A series of different monarchies spanned 1300 years from the Early Middle Ages to the French Revolution in 1789. The Revolution was followed by five periods of republicanism alternating with periods of imperial monarchy and one bout with authoritarianism during the Second World War. The Fifth Republic began in 1958 and is the political system in France .

Introduction

A political system (), also known as a "form of government" is a way of organizing a state. Some different political systems are: democracy, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, theocracy, feudalism, monarchism, republicanism, and various hybrid systems. Each of these may be further subdivided, for example: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, and feudal monarchy, all of which have been present in France. Many of these forms of government were known in Classical antiquity, and pre-date the existence of France.

Classical usually regards Clovis I () as the first king of France, however historians today consider that such a kingdom didn't begin until the establishment of West Francia in 843. For the purposes of this article, all political systems from Clovis on are considered to be in scope.

Historical context

The Franks were a group of Romanized Germanic dynasties within the collapsing Western Roman Empire, who eventually commanded the region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. Clovis I established a single kingdom uniting the core Frankish territories, and was crowned King of the Franks in 496. He and his descendants ruled the Merovingian dynasty until 751, when it was replaced by the Carolingians (751-843).

After the coronation of Charlemagne in 800, the Carolingian Empire (800–888) gradually came to be seen in the West as a continuation of the ancient Roman Empire. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Kingdom of the Franks ("Francia") was divided into three separate kingdoms, merging into two: West Francia and East Francia. The latter became the Holy Roman Empire, and West Francia eventually became the core of the Kingdom of France, which was structured as a feudal monarchy and lasted for eight centuries (987–1792).

During the French Revolution, the last pre-revolutionary monarch, Louis XVI, was forced to accept the French Constitution of 1791, thus turning the absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. This lasted a year, before the monarchy was abolished entirely in September 1792 and replaced by the First French Republic, marking the beginning of republicanism in France.

For roughly the next eighty years, there was an alternating series of empires, republics, and a kingdom, until the 1870 establishment of the Third Republic. From that point on, it was republics down to the present day, with the exception of the authoritarian Vichy regime during World War II. The Fifth Republic, established as a semi-presidential system in 1958, remains the political system in France as of now.

List

Name Date Type constitution ParliamentForm of governmentLowerhouseUpperhouse Federal monarchy 481 to Federal monarchy(481–987) Fundamental laws (481–1575) then Fundamental laws(1575–1789) Legislative power belonged to the king and not to the parlements, which were courts. The king could call an Estates General to solicit advice (the last was in 1789). Ancien Régime (481–1791) Royal Council : Council of State (13th c.–1790) separate from the Conseil des affaires (later, Conseil d'en haut) (16th c.–1792) Kingdom of France (481–1792) Feudal monarchy – Feudal monarchy(987–1610) Absolutism – Absolutism (1610–1791) National Constituent Assembly (1789–1791) Constitutional monarchy – Constitutional monarchy (1791–1792) Constitution of 1791Legislative Assembly(1791–1792) (Aug–Sep 1792) First Republic – :fr:Régime d'assemblée = ??(1792–1795) Constitution of 1793 National Convention (1792–1795) (1792–1794) French republic (1792–1804) (Jan – Apr 1793) Committee of Public Safety (1793–1795) Commissioners of the CPS (1794–1795) strict separation of powers(1795–1799) Constitution of 1795 Council of Five Hundred (1795–1799) Council of Ancients (1795–1799) Directory(1795–1799) Consulate (1799–1802) Constitution of 1799 Legislative Body(1799–1814) Conservative Senate (1799–1814)Consulate Consular Commission – Consulat –First Consul – Authoritarianism (1802–1804) Constitution of 1802 First Empire – Imperial monarchy (1804–1814) Constitution of 1804 French Empire (1804–1814) First Restoration – Constitutional monarchy (1814–1815) Charter of 1814 Chamber of Deputies (1814–1815) Chamber of Peers (1814–1848) Kingdom of France (1814–1815) Hundred Days – Imperial monarchy (Jun–Jul 1815) Charter of 1815 Chamber of Representatives (Mar–Jul 1815) French Empire (1815) Second Restoration – Constitutional monarchy (1815–1830) restoration of the Charter of 1814 Chamber of Deputies (1815–1848) Kingdom of France (1815–1848) July Monarchy – Constitutional monarchy (1830–1848) Charter of 1830 Second Republic – no type no constitution (1848–1849) French republic (1848–1852) Presidential system(1849–1852) Constitution of 1848 (1849–1851) Second Empire – Imperial monarchy (1852–1870) Constitution of 1852then sixteen amendments Corps législatif (1852-1870) Senate (1852-1870) French Empire (1852–1870) Third Republic – Parliamentary republic(1871–1875) no constitution from National Assembly (1871) (1875-1942) French republic (1870–present) Parliamentary system(1875–1940) Constitutional Laws of 1875 National Assembly (3rd Rep.) (1875-1942) Chamber of Deputies (France) (1875-1942)Senate (1875-1942) Free France – Resistance movement (1940–1943) Brazzaville Manifesto Vichy regime(Unitary authoritarian dictatorship) (1940–1944) French Constitutional Law of 1940 French Committee of National Liberation – Ordonnance from Provisional Consultative Assembly (1943–1945) Provisional Government of the French Republic – no type Ordinance of 9 August 1944 (1945–1946) Sigmaringen enclave (1944–1945) no type Constitutional law of 2 November 1945 (Jun–Nov 1946) Fourth Republic – Parliamentary system(1946–1958) Constitution of 1946 National Assembly (1946-1958)Council of the Republic (1946-1958) Fifth Republic from to present () Semi-presidential system(1958–present) Constitution of 1958 Congress (1958–present)National Assembly (1958–present)Senate (1958–present)

Timeline diagram

List of political systems in France

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