FRANCE

General

The area has had numerous invasions, conquests, civil wars, and revolutions. The Romans subdued the area and various ethnic groups have contributed to the present culture. France has been an aggressive country and has explored, developed, and colonized many areas around the world; French overseas departments consist of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. Overseas territories include French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Kerguelen Archipelago, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna Islands.

Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France lost many men, much wealth, its extensive empire, and its rank as a dominant nation-state. France has struggled since 1958 - arguably with success - to construct a presidential democracy resistant to severe instabilities inherent in the parliamentary democracy of early 20th century France. In recent years, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the advent of the Euro in January 1999.

Government

The country of France is divided into 22 adminstrative regions and 96 departments. The government consists of a president, prime minister and cabinet, a bicameral legislature, and judicial system. Many political parties compete for governmental power.

Economy

Being one of the four West European trillion-dollar economies, France matches a growing services sector with a diversified industrial base and substantial agricultural resources. Industry generates one-quarter of GDP and more than 80% of export earnings. The government retains considerable influence over key segments of each sector, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunication firms. It has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s. Persistently high unemployment still poses a major problem for the government. France has shied away from cutting exceptionally generous social welfare benefits or the enormous state bureaucracy, preferring to pare defence spending and raise taxes to keep the deficit down. The Jospin administration has pledged both to lower unemployment and trim spending, pinning its hopes for new jobs on economic growth and on legislation to gradually reduce the work week from 39 to 35 hours by 2002. France joined ten other EU members to launch the Euro on 1 January 1999.

Police

The French police are divided into two forces, the Police Nationale of over 100,000 employees and the gendarmerie of approximately 91,800 employees (1991) - 1400 women. In 1995 a reorganisation of the Police Nationale started.

Police Nationale