The current state of (the State of) France!

As I am preparing to make some finalizing approaches to my Case Study Project for my Comparative Politics course I found an intriguing article to I wanted to share with the class. This article is titled: "Pace of Attacks in Libya Is Dividing NATO". The article is a good read, and it was very enjoyable. I will include the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/world/africa/13nato.html?ref=france

France's current news in the media

French and Italian leaders seek tighter controls on migration, according to this article that was posted on the New York Times/International Herald Tribune website. This article was published April 26, 2011, which was last week Tuesday to be precise. This article was written by both, Rachel Donadio and Alan Cowell. The article specify that the state of Rome is experiencing a large wave of undocumented migration from North Africa. So both the Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and President of France Nicolas Sarkozy have gotten together on Tuesday of last week at a meeting at Villa Madama in Rome to discuss Rome's migration situation. Here is the link (URL) for your viewing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/europe/27rome.html?_r=1&ref=france

State of France (Françafrique)?

As I surfed the internet in search of some pertinent information about the state of the State of France I was lucky enough to get a hold of this article from the "New York Times" website. This is the link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/world/africa/18francafrique.html?ref=france

The article has made reference to France supposedly becoming what France was like during the colonial era. President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered French military troops to Ivory Coast and Libya during their current time of need.  

J. Searcy (France) blog

While I have had the opportunity to do some research on my selected state of France. I have become aware of just how long the history of France truly is. France is a founding member of the United Nations, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. France is also a founding and leading member state of the European Union and the largest one by area.

And the aforementioned statistics and/or information has made myself that much more delighted to have had the opportunity to better familiarize myself with a super state in France.   

France: Pressing problems blog 04/25/2011

As I furthered my research on the State of France, I spotted some intriguing information on "The World Factbook" website. While reading information about France I learned that, "France is in the midst of transition from a will-to-do modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms". "The government has partially or fully privatized many large companies, banks, and insurers, and had ceded stakes in such leading firms as Air France, France Telecom, Renault, and Thales".

I was astonished to learn that the State of France has privatized many large companies. And that is similar to what the great Philosopher Karl Marx talked about in his books, literatures, Speeches, etc. But instead of private property it is private corporations. So according to this research, the State of France is transitioning into a capitalist state.

The World Factbook continues by stating, "France maintains a strong presence in some sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defense industries". "With at least 75 million foreign tourists per year, France is the most visited Country in the world and maintains the third largest income in the world from tourism"

Here are some of France's pressing problems: "France unemployment rate increased from 7.4% in 2008 to 9.5% in 2010". "The government pursuit of aggressive stimulus and investment measures in response to the economic crisis, however, are contributing to a deterioration of France's public finances". "The government of France budget deficit rose sharply from 3.4% of GDP in 2008 to 7.8% of GDP in 2010", while Frances public debt rose from 68% of GDP to 84% over the same period". "Paris is terminating stimulus measures, eliminating tax credits, and freezing most government spending to bring the budget deficit under the 3% euro-zone ceiling by 2013".

"President Sarkozy-who secured passage of pension reform in 2010-is expected to seek passage of some tax reforms in 2011, but he may delay additional, more costly, reforms until after the 2012 elections".  

These are some of France's pressing problems that I have obtained through my research of France on the "Central Intelligence Agency (The World Factbook)" .      

J. Searcy's "State of France" blog

I am not precisely sure what area of research I will be including into this particular blog post. By, however I have found some very informative information while I was researching the State of France. And here it is:

 

General Information on France

Official Name: French Republic
Capital: Paris (Current local time)
Government Type: Republic
Population: 63.72 million
Area: 220,668 square miles; largest west European country, about four-fifths the size of Texas.
Languages: French, but some rapidly declining regional dialects and languages.

Also while trying to muster up some very intriguing information about the State of France that suck out to me, I obtained a good article on the "International Hearld Tribune (Global NY Times)" website. The article is titled, "Socialist Party Decisively Wins French Elections". The article was published on March 27, 2011 in Paris by Reuters.

While reading this article I found out that, "The opposition Socialist Party decisively won French local elections on Sunday", which would have been last week, it also stated, "and the far-right National Front surged, putting pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy from two sides a year before he faces the electorate". It goes on to say, "with most votes counted in the second round of polls to elect cantonal councils in half of France, the left had 36%, almost double the ruling party's 18.6 %"

The article continues by stating, "The anti immigrant National Front, which has surged in opinion polls under its new leader, Marine Le Pen, scored 11 % even though it put up candidates in only a minority of departments. In some areas it scored as much as 40%". 

It continues by stating, "The polls will probably be the last big test of sentiment before the April 2012 election." It goes on to state that, "Ms. Le Pen has pushed ahead of the president to stand second behind leftists in opinion polls". 

"Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the outcome for the National Front", "shows that the protest vote should not be underestimated or made light of. This party must be beaten, and the reasons for its support must be clearly evaluated and dealt with." It continues by stating that, "Mr. Sarkozy's party, the U.M.P., has blurred the distinction with the far right by taking a tough line on the integration of the Muslim minority". 

The article continues by stating, "Ms. Le Pen told reporters, "A few more pushes and shoves with the battering ram and the U.M.P. system will disintegrate". France's cantonal councils take care of matters like the building of roads and schools as well as the distribution of various welfare subsidies. 

I found this article to be immensely informative in regards to a current Socialist Party in the state of France. It is great to see that the Socialist beliefs is still being considered around the world. Pioneer European Karl Marx was a socialist, and to witness this Socialist party's movement was very inspiring and uplifting. I will have to keep my Comparative Politics class up to date with any new information that's conveyed in reference to this article. I well include the link to this article for your pleasure: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/world/europe/28france.html?_r=1&ref=france        

J. Searcy's (France) blog

Hello, I have been doing research and blogging about my state of France. The previous blog that I mustered up I elaborated about the Political System of France, to include the Flag, and Constitution. Now, for those of you that do not know the geographical location of France I was fortunate enough to muster up a very nice map of the State. As you look at the map below, you will spot France on the map as the country with the almond/tan color.


I have obtained some very valuable information on the details of France. According to my source, "CIA-The World Factbook"

Location: Metropolitan France is in Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the United Kingdom; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain".   

Area-comparative: Slightly less than the size of Texas

Land boundaries: Metropolitan France-total: two thousand eight hundred eighty-nine KM .

Coastline: four thousand six hundred sixy-eight KM.

This is a little more background on the state of France. Next time I intend on gathering "recent" news about the state of France so that I can inform my class mates and professor Janairo about the current state of the state of France.

The Political System of France

Flag description: While engaged in researching my choosen State of France, I was able to find an

authentic looking flag of France. 

This is a little definition of the flag, three vertical bands of blue (hoist side), white, and red; known as the "Le drapeau tricolore" (French tricolor), the origin of the flag dates to 1790 and the French revolution when the "ancient French color" of white was combined with the blue and red color of the parisian militia; the official flag for all French dependant areas, according to the source CIA-The World Factbook. This is a link to this great France flag: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/flagtemplate_fr.html

According to the CIA-The World Factbook (background), France although ultimately a victor of both World War I & II, suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. Since 1958 France has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities in earlier more purely parliamentary administrations. In recent years, France's cooperation and reconciliation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of the common exchange currency, the Euro, in January 1999, according the the CIA-The World Factbook (Background) section. 

While researching France's constitution on PoliticsResources.net I was able to find an English version of France's constitution. According to the Preamble, which is the introductory explanation,

"the French people solemly proclaim their attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the declaration of 1789, confirmed and complemented by the Preamble of the constitution of 1946, and to the rights and duties as defined in the Charter for the Environment of 2004". It goes on to say, "By virtue of these principles and that of the self-determination of peoples, the republic offers to the overseas territories which have expressed the will to adhere to them new institutions founded on the common idea of liberty, equality and fraternity and conceived for the purpose of their democratic development".  

Subsequent to reading this introduction of France's constitution I feel much more confident in France direction.     

      

 

Second blog of France

Hello, this is my second blog of my State France. In this blog I will discuss a recent Post/blog that I found on the Wall Street Journal Online website. This is an extremely small post/blog by John W. Miller titled "France to MEP's: Strasbourg Stays". In this blog Miller is discussing "Members of the European Parliment". John Miller points out that "On Friday, France fought back, reminding parliamentarians that Europe, at least in this case, is a continent ruled by treaties, not men". According to a government spokesman named "Bernard Valero", the survey that was taken on Friday was "regrettable". Also according to "Benard Valero" "French authorities-will continue to implement concrete actions to affirm Strasbourg’s European dimension and to make working life easier for European MEPs, especially by improving the accessibility and attractiveness of the city.”

This was a very short post/blog and interesting also. I will be keeping tabs on the improvement of the "Members of the European Parliment" and keep the students of Comparative Politics abreast with any changes and/or developments in the near future.

I am going to include this link for your confirmation needs:
http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2011/02/11/france-to-meps-strasbourg-stays-deal/

In actuality, as I think about it, I did not only think that this posting on the Wall Street Journal was interesting, I found it quite complex to follow. Mainly because I do not have a solid knowlegde base on the state of France. I picked this posting to become more familiarized in the particulars of the "Members of the European Parliment".     

J. Searcy (France) blog

Hello, I am a student attending Cardinal Stritch University majoring in Political Science. I am new to this "blog" situation, but it is extremely easy to do. I am taking this interesting Political Science course titled "Comparative Politics". We are required to select a Country (State) of the world. The state that I selected is France. I chose France because I have some ancestry with France that dates back to the 1800, by way of the United States. Now about France,  officially the French Republic........