Montesquieu and the Separation of Power
In France there is a separation of power inspired by Montesquieu (1689-1755), a French political philosopher from ‘le Siècle des Lumières’, the Age of the Enlightenment. Montesquieu believed in a separation of the powers that implement government policy. They are separated into the executive power, the legislative power and the judicial power.1
In modern day France, the executive power is made up of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister and his ministers. The legislative power is made up of the National Assembly and the Senate. The judicial power refers to the courts.
According to Montesquieu these powers should be separate and yet dependent upon each other so that the influence of one cannot exceed that of the other two. This philosophy has influenced many constitutions around the world among them the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.2
The Executive Power
The executive power is made up of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the ‘executive’ government made up of ministers. The executive power directs the politics of the state. It is charged with government policy making and the drafting of laws.
The President of the Republic is elected as head of the executive power for a term of 5 years. He is elected ‘au suffrage universel direct’ meaning that all adult French citizens are eligible to vote directly for the President. There is no other entity between the voter and the French President such as exists in the United States of America, where members of the electoral college act as an intermediary in the Presidential elections.
The President of the Republic is the most powerful office in France. He or she ensures that the constitution is respected and can call constitutional referenda. The President has a diplomatic role and negotiates and ratifies international treaties on behalf of France and guarantees that France respects its international agreements. He is also the Commander in Chief of the French Military and has the power to order the use of nuclear weapons. The President of France is immune from prosecution during his presidency except in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Prime Minister is not elected by the people, but is instead chosen by the President. He is tasked with forming the ‘executive’ government of ministers, which must be ratified by the President. The ‘executive’ government is responsible for drawing up draft bills called ‘projets de loi’ for consideration by the legislative power.
The Legislative Power
The legislative power is shared between the lower house, the National Assembly and the upper house, the Senate.
The National assembly is made up of 577 deputies who represent regions of France known as constituencies. Deputies are elected by the people of their constituency, by direct and universal voting. Elections for the National Assembly take place two months after the Presidential elections.
The National Assembly has its own President and forms a government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ responsible for debating, amending and voting on bills proposed by the executive power. Although the National Assembly is the lower house of the legislative power it has more powers than the upper house, the Senate.
The Senate is made up of senators, elected by approximately 150,000 officials called ‘grands électeurs’. Among the ‘grands électeurs’ are mayors, some members of the National Assembly and local councillors. Like the National Assembly, the Senate also discuss and amend bills. If after several exchanges between the two houses, known as ‘la navette’, they fail to agree on a draft bill, the Prime Minister summons a mixed commission comprising seven deputies and seven senators to strike a compromise. If no compromise is reached, the final decision rests with the National Assembly who must ratify bills drawn up by the ‘executive’ government before they become law. In this sense, the Senate has limited powers, much like the House of Lords in Britain after which it was originally modelled in 1814.
The President of the Republic has the power to dissolve the National Assembly and call for new legislative elections. However, the National Assembly also has the power to overthrow the Prime Minister and his ‘executive’ government and as such the President must in practice choose a Prime Minister from the party that has a majority in the National Assembly. Given that elections for the National Assembly follow shortly after the Presidential elections, it is unlikely that the President of the Republic will be from a different party to that of the majority government in the National Assembly.
It is worth noting that before a change to the constitution in 2000, the President served a term of 7 years while the deputies in the National Assembly served a term of 5 years. Because the elections were not in sync, a situation where the President and the majority government in the National Assembly were from different parties was not uncommon and sometimes led to ‘cohabitation’, a situation where the President and Prime Minister don’t share the same position on the political spectrum. For example, the right wing Jacques Chirac served as Prime Minister (1986-1988) for the left wing President Francois Mitterand and when Chirac was himself President, he chose the socialist Lionel Jospin as his Prime Minister (1997-2002).
As well as debating and amending the ‘Projets de loi’ proposed by the executive power, deputies and senators also have the right to propose laws known as ‘Propositions de loi’ relating to a select number of domains listed in article 34 of the constitution. These proposals are examined in the same way as those proposed by the ‘executive’ government.
The Judicial Power
The judicial power, the courts, is responsible for ensuring the application of the law and for sanctioning those who do not respect it.
References
Image: French National Assembly (Creative Commons)
1) Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws, 1748
2) Susan Gordon, Montesquieu: The French Philosopher who Shaped Modern Government, 2005
3) Constitution de la République française, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/connaissance/constitution.asp, 1958