French Republic

Nation Application

NS Account Name/Nation Name: French Republic

Head of State: President of the Executive Council: Roch Génin

Head of Government: Deputy-President of the Executive Council: Gwenaëlle Ange

Claims: The rest of France (with the exception of Corsica)
Overseas Territories: French Guiana
French Polynesia
Guadeloupe
Martinique
Kerguelen
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Wallis and Futuna
New Caledonia

Capital City: Paris

Preferred Map Color: #00A3E0

Demonym: French

Population: 50,473,883

GDP (Nominal): $2.27 Trillion

Description of Economy: The French Economy is centrally planned with a limited free market under heavy government influence and oversight. Since the Chaban-Delmas reforms of the 1960s, France has had a de-facto Market Socialist economy. In many workplaces, the workers have democratic control over their businesses and the profits from that business must either be reinvested or shared amongst the workers. France also requires the French divisions of any foreign company operating in France to have worker and union representation on its French boards. Today, France has a service based economy with a strong manufacturing industry being propped up through government intervention. Additionally Tourism and Agriculture are also important parts of the French economy with France being the most visited country by tourists and the city of Paris itself being visited by 45 million tourists a year.

Description of Government: The French Government is organised along Marxist and Council Communist ideals with a strong system of checks and balances in place. The Constitution of 1948 establishes that the Head of State is the President of the Executive Council which is appointed by the legislative body which can choose to dismiss or appoint members of the executive. France is a de-facto one-party state under the leadership of the French Section of the Workers International (SFIO) although individual factions have emerged within the party. As a result despite being ruled by a single party, French politics often depend on the influence of individual factions. French Communism, taking significant influence from Centrist Marxism, differs from Soviet Communism and both found themselves on opposing sides of the Cold War with France rejecting Soviet dominance which forced the nation into a pragmatic 'marriage of convenience' with the western powers.

Whilst the Legislature and Executive Council are not directly elected, local Communal Councils and Workers Councils are directly elected by the people who themselves elect members to Regional Councils. Together the Regional Councils, Communal Councils and Workers Councils elect members to the 'Representative National People's Assembly' which then in turn elects the Executive Council.

The Constitution of 1948 also sets out an individual judicial system and a modified version of the Napoleonic Code is the basis of the French legal system.

Description of Military: The French Military currently has approximately 80-90,000 Active Soldiers. France practices mandatory male conscription between the ages of 19-34 years during which conscripts must engage in periods of military training. Additionally all conscripts must be members of local Citizens Militias. French policy on gun ownership, being taken from American laws in the 1948 Constitution, has seen France have one of the highest guns per capita of any nation in Europe. Annually, France spends 2.1% of its GDP on defence and the domestic French military industry which it uses to arm its own armed forces as well as for exports. France currently operates one aircraft carrier, the Jean Jaurès (Charles de Gaulle irl) which is the flagship of the French navy.

History: (All French history prior to the Tours Congress is valid unless it conflicts with pre-existing lore)
Following the Tours Congress, in an attempt to keep the left united both L-O Frossard and Léon Blum met in Cherbourg to negotiate a pact to keep the SFIO intact, the Frossard-Blum agreement ultimately saw the SFIO adopt a firmly Centrist Marxist position straddling both reformist and revolutionary sects whilst also remaining within the Second International. The SFIO saw considerable electoral success prior to World War Two and the party came close to winning a total majority in 1936. However the party's attempts at forming a national government failed largely owing to the right's total refusal to work with the party and Radical unease over the presence of committed Marxists within the party's leadership. As such the SFIO remained in opposition or providing external support to Radical governments until the fall of France when the SFIO was dissolved in the Metropole and saw itself make up the bulk of the Free French Forces and the French Resistance. Charles de Gaulle would remark that he was "Kolchak leading a cabinet of Communists."

The Normandy Landings and Liberation of France saw the SFIO create regional, military and labourers councils with the help of their resistance networks which saw the de-facto creation of a parallel government to the official government which was now firmly in the control of the SFIO and Gaullists. The failure of the 1946 Constitutional Referendum, backed by both the SFIO and Gaullists, sparked mass civil unrest as successive constitutions also failed. The situation continued to deteriorate until the December Events took place in 1947 and the French Fourth Republic was declared by the SFIO and Gaullists with Guy Mollet as President and André Malraux serving as Prime Minister. Eventually, the Gaullists influence continued to decrease and the SFIO was successful in passing the 1948 Constitution which saw France become Western Europe's first socialist state. The reaction against the Fourth Republic was swift and a Conservative coup attempt failed in 1949 followed by a far-right military putsch shortly afterwards. France pursued decolonisation during this period, granting independence to many of its former colonies but maintaining a presence in Polynesia, New Caledonia and the Caribbean for strategic purposes as well as to maintain French influence in these regions. During this period, relations with the USSR collapsed after initial positivity, Mollet declared that France was now the true bastion of Communism and sought to distance France from the Soviet Union by entering a pragmatic relationship with the west, adopting a hardline anti-Soviet policy. Despite this France was still viewed with suspicion and never fully integrated with the west. Mollet stood down in 1953 and was succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a formed Gaullist turned moderate in the regime, who prioritised normalising relations with the Western nations. Chaban-Delmas was instrumental in rehabilitating de Gaulle and his image in France as well as restoring France's position in Europe by returning foreign assets and allowing foreign military bases in France. Additionally Chaban-Delmas pioneered the 'Programme économique populaire' which saw the creation of a limited and small-scale free market with heavy government intervention and mandated trade union membership.

Chaban-Delmas served as President of the Executive Council for 17 years until 1970 where he was succeeded by his political protégé and fellow moderate Jean Lecanuet. Lecanuet himself was ousted three years into his Presidency by François Mitterrand of the Orthodox faction which kept many of Chaban-Delmas' reforms but sought to strengthen the system. Since 1973, power has largely changed between the moderate factions and Orthodox factions. Upon the collapse of the USSR, France found itself as the world's premier socialist power and used the moment to try and discredit Soviet style Communism in contrast with the French system which had seen considerable success in contrast. However the effects of 1989 were felt in France as calls for increased political liberalisation were put down and only minor cosmetic reforms were initiated. France today stands as the bastion of European Socialism, it has one of the highest Human Development Indexes globally, low levels of wealth inequality and the highest union membership in Europe even if this all comes at the expense of the economy which is comparatively weaker than its neighbours.

Other Notes: (Any other notes with relation to your nation. May be left blank).