Did you know ? France is a constitutional unitary semi-presidential republic. Yep, a big declaration ! Let’s break it up in little chunks just for the pleasure.
A Republic
A republic is a state which big boss hasn’t succeeded one of his/her parents. In the old days, a republic could also designate a state run by a king or an emperor, but nowadays, we don’t speak of a state in those cases. To be noted : a republic can be run by a dictator or a scooter rider, the important thing is really only that he has not inheritated of the state as others could have of the EPAD1 if you see what I mean …
… constitutional
A republic literally is a ‘public thing’ from the latin res publica. The ‘thing’ in question is the cause of the people and it is defended by a Constitution, the fifth of its kind (or more precisely the Vth). It dates from the 4th of October, 1958.
Les Archives Nationales / WikiMedia Commons2
… unitary
Ok now, let’s move on to the next chunk : unitary ! This chunk refers to the powers that the Republic of France doesn’t delegate to its different territories. It keeps its highest authority. In the opposite case, France would be federal like for example the United States that lets its different states decide, among other things, whether they use the death penalty or not.
Are you still following me ? Ok then, it’s not finished. Here’s one more little chunk below.
… semi-presidential
A semi-presidential regime is in-between a presidential regime and a parliamentary one. On one hand, the President has quite some legitimacy and quite a few powers because he/she is elected by universal suffrage, but on the other hand, the executive has to answer before the Parliament.
This time, that’s it, finished, you know everything there is to know about the French Republic !
1 Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic from May of 2017 to May of 2012, tried to put the behind of his 23-year-old student of a son in the presidential seat of one of the biggest business centers in Europe.
2 The Constitution of 1958 on the website of the Musée des Archives Nationales.
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