preface
For a long time, French political and social development has been influenced and controlled by two dominant contradictory tendencies, one is the centralization tendency after centuries, from the French dynasty to the peak of the French Revolution in the First Empire of Napoleon, and the other is the regional, cultural and religious pluralism, which led to the unification of the French nation into a long process of geographical accumulation. Charles de Gaulle once said that France could be united with fear, but it could not simply unite the country of 365 cheeses
The process of state construction in France is intertwined with the history of neighboring countries, especially Britain and Germany, the dispute between Anglo-French territory and throne in the feudal period, the territorial entanglement between France and Germany that initially continued to the modern era, and the dispute between secular and Holy See religious jurisdiction, together constitute the external environment and external troubles of France's development. Under external troubles, there are also internal worries, and the "feudal monarch" system under the feudal system of Western Europe lays a pattern of "within the state", and France is only one of the feudal kings, and has no right to interfere with the rule of the vassals in their territory.
External troubles and internal worries contributed to France's national consciousness and national identity, accelerating the construction of France as a unified centralized state: on the other hand, the constraints of the internal and external environment included the factor of decentralization within the framework of France's totalitarian state, so that France's centralization of power has never reached the level that the outside world believes.
Manifestations of centralization in France before the 1982 reforms
Before the 1982 reform, France left the impression of a typical centralized state, whether it was the history of regional organization, economic conditions or ideology, it seemed that Paris was the center of centralized control over the local through a vertical and hierarchical system. But the reality is that centralization and control of Paris as the center are neither absolute nor unilinear, but a network of interpenetration processes and structures between the center and the edges.
The centralization of the bureaucratic system and the flattening of the decentralization coexisted, but the bureaucratic centralization tendency and appearance of the French bureaucratic government during this period overshadowed the decentralization movement. For France in development and transition, the development and maturity of the bureaucratic system is still the basic requirement for the transition from traditional society to modern society. In France, where there are frequent cabinet changes, the bureaucracy system is full of drawbacks but has not lost its vitality, and the administrative stability ensured by the bureaucracy system is the balancer of political instability brought about by the rotation of political parties, and the two jointly promote the development of France.
The centralization of France before the reform was mainly manifested in the fact that between the state and society was a state of state control of society; There are local administrative organizations between the central and local governments, and there is no local government, and the central government exercises administrative supervision over the localities through the national representative system; Between the legislative, executive and judicial powers, there was a shift from the parliamentary centralization of the Fourth Republic to the administrative centralization of the Fifth Republic: between the executive duo, presidential decision-making, the execution of the prime minister to the president.
The Vichy regime in a quiet corner brought France the fear and tolerance of the central government to the local expansion, and the supremacy of the parliament of the Fourth Republic brought about the incompetence and ineffectiveness of the government, and the international anti-communist trend and the Algerian rebellion brought pressure to the political system, all of which pushed France towards centralization and state interventionism. The social justice and economic control supported by the Christian Democrats coincided with the nationalization movement advocated by the left-wing Communist Party and the Socialist Party.
The central government under the guidance of Gaullism reconciled Jacobinism with the Colbert model, implemented centralized economic planning covering the entire social security system, and nationalized banks, coal mines, gas, electricity, and transportation groups, so that by the 1950s France was more centralized than ever. "Economic development also challenges traditional patterns of employment and population distribution, with the rapid development of some regions and cities, especially Paris, contrasting with the decline of rural areas as a whole (Brittany, Corsica, etc.). Authoritarian economics and planning mainly focus on industry development and large projects, but instead of alleviating the trend of centralization, it has increased.
The dissolution of centralization before the 1982 reform
Before the decentralization reform in 1982, France was typically characterized by centralized power, and there were still many dissolving factors for centralization in the gap between the power process and the political structure of power. Today's international pattern is dominated by the nation-state, which is influenced by the organization of the state and impacts the shield of "nation" and "state" in the nation-state, and the dependence and loyalty to their respective nationalities under multi-ethnic conditions impact the recognition and loyalty to the state, resulting in the state not being able to achieve complete centralization. The mixed features of a constitutional state republic check and balance each other, so that centralization is not too pure. Finally, the theory of democratic participation inevitably leads to fragmented governance structures and states, and also dissolves the characteristics of centralized power in political practice.
With the development of economic, political and even cultural international integration, the impact of external factors on the nation-state is increasing. The monopoly of exclusive power in many areas that were originally under the control of sovereign states was gradually broken, and the European Union as a transnational organization and its principles attacked the state structure of the French unitary system.
France completed the construction of sovereign states earlier, and the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 recognized the sovereignty and interests of countries within Europe, and European countries had a foreign policy within Europe in the form of "national groups" and a foreign policy towards other places outside Europe. As the most influential transnational organization in Europe today, the EU has a great relationship with the formation and role of "national groups" in early Europe.
The structure of the party system is very important in the development of democratic politics in Europe, and France is no exception. "Political parties tend to both create the basic institutions in the political system and determine the output of the political process." "Political parties are the main organizers and participants in the modern political process, and the degree of differentiation of political parties is to some extent the degree of differentiation of society; Whether the majority representation system or proportional representation system in the election of political parties, the level of votes at the electoral threshold directly affects the political pattern of a country.
In modern society, citizens' political participation is largely carried out through participation in political parties, and it is difficult for individuals to single-handedly highlight the encirclement of political party organizations. The centralization of power in the French Fifth Republic is related to party politics, and the existence of various decentralized organizations and factors under centralization is even more inseparable from political parties. In their essence, political parties have nothing to do with centralization or decentralization, as organizers and participants in the political process, and the ultimate centralization or decentralization of power is related to a country's historical tradition, actual national conditions, political party organizational form and constitutional system.
From parliamentary centralization to administrative centralization
The administrative centralization of the Fifth Republic system is both overkill and consistent with the centralization of power in the parliament of the Third and Fourth Republics.
The French Third Republic's form of government is organized by a responsible cabinet. For a political party to form a government, it must obtain a majority of the votes in parliament. However, since the Third Republic, party politics in France has developed towards a multi-party system due to ideological and interest demands, as well as cultural and religious differences.
Not only that, the proportional representation system used in the voting counting method also amplifies the diversity and complexity of the parties in parliament. Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible for a political party to obtain a majority of the votes in parliament, and in the conditions of multi-party competition, parties with similar ideologies often form party coalitions in order to obtain a majority of the votes and thus the opportunity to form a government. However, such party alliances are often precarious, and if a party withdraws from the coalition and the original majority of the coalition party changes, the coalition government is in danger of reorganizing or stepping down.
The Third Republic, a parliamentary republic, failed to withstand the attacks of World War I and World War II, and the Vichy regime was abandoned immediately after World War II. The French Fourth Republic began operations in 1946 and continued to follow the parliamentary republic of the Third Republic. The luck of the Fourth Republic was much worse than that of the Third Republic, and the Cold War between the two blocs in the international environment formed two poles in the world, which in turn triggered anti-communist trends everywhere, and the French Communist Party, which made an important contribution to the French anti-fascist war, suffered a heavy blow.
While France was still at odds with each other, the rebellion in the French colony of Algeria had caused chaos in French politics. From the establishment of the Fourth Republic in 1946 to the Fifth Republic in 1958, a total of 21 governments in 12 short periods of time, these governments were only more than a year, and the shortest was even bombarded before they could really form a cabinet.
epilogue
Between politics and society, the bureaucracy under the bureaucracy system excludes other social subjects from participating in governance by virtue of its status as the main body of governance, and elects non-professional administrative officials with its professional knowledge, to some extent, forming a centralized power under the rule of administrative experts, and the stability of the bureaucracy restricts the flow of power. On the other hand, the high voter participation rate in French society, the excessive participation of the people in politics, politics has become the social master, the traces of the political community under the ancient democracy are deep, people are political people, all activities revolve around politics, and lack the sense of alienation between the people and politics under modern democracy. If politics and society are too close and too close, the greater the influence of politics on society, which is not conducive to the distribution of power in politics and society.