Chapter 7 (France)

Question 1

Absolute Monarchy

Answer 1

The stage in the evolutionary development of Europe between the more decentralized feudal monarchies of the Middle Ages and the constitutional governments of the modern era

Question 2

Blocked Vote

Answer 2

A vote that forces legislature to accept bills in their entirety and allows amendments only if they are approved by the government

Question 3

Code Law

Answer 3

Law derived from detailed legal codes rather than precedent

Question 4

Cohabitation

Answer 4

An arrangement in which presidents lacking a majority of legislative power appoint an opposition prime minister who can gain a majority of support in the legislature

Question 5

Constitutional Council

Answer 5

The highest judicial authority on constitutional and electoral matters in France

Question 6

Council of Ministers

Answer 6

The Cabinet selected by the Prime Minister

Question 7

Dirigisme

Answer 7

An emphasis on statue authority in economic development; a combination of social-democratic and mercantilist ideas

Question 8

Events of May

Answer 8

Parisian riots of 1968 in which students and workers called for educational and social reforms

Question 9

Fifth Republic

Answer 9

France’s current regime (1958 - present)

Question 10

Four-party, two-bloc system

Answer 10

A system requiring coalition building in in the second round of the two-round single-member district system

Question 11

French Communist Party (FCP)

Answer 11

One of the dominant parties of the French left since the end of WWII

Question 12

French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT)

Answer 12

A smaller confederation backed by the socialist party

Question 13

French Revolution

Answer 13

Overthrow in 1789-99 of French absolute monarchy and establishment of the First Republic

Question 14

French Socialist Party (PS)

Answer 14

Dominant party of the French left

Question 15

General Confederation of Labor (CGT)

Answer 15

Most powerful French union confederation; linked to the French Communist Party

Question 16

François Hollande

Answer 16

Socialist president of France from 2012 to 2017

Question 17

laicite

Answer 17

The subordination of religious identity to state and national identity-state over church

Question 18

Marine Le Pen

Answer 18

Daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and leader of the National Front (now called National Rally) since 2011

Question 19

Emmanuel Macron

Answer 19

A young and inexperienced centrist economist elected president in 2017

Question 20

Motion of Censure

Answer 20

An act of legislature against the government, requiring new elections when proposed legislation submitted as matters of confidence are not passed

Question 21

National Assembly

Answer 21

The 577-member lower house of French Parliament

Question 22

National Rally/National Front

Answer 22

A political party on the far right created by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972, renamed to National Rally in 2018

Question 23

Parlement

Answer 23

France’s bicameral legislature

Question 24

Populism

Answer 24

A political view that does not have a consistent ideological foundation but emphasizes hostility towards elites and established state and economic institutions and favors greater power in the hands of the public

Question 25

Prefect

Answer 25

Government appointed local official

Question 26

President

Answer 26

The head of state

Question 27

Prime Minister

Answer 27

Leader appointed by the French president and approved by the majority of the lower house, selects a cabinet and presides over the day-to-day affairs of government

Question 28

Rally for the Republic

Answer 28

Party formed by Jacques Chirac as the more nationalist, socially conservative, Euroskeptic force of the French right

Question 29

Reign of Terror

Answer 29

Seizure of power and class war led by Robespierre (1793-94)

Question 30

Republicans

Answer 30

The main party of the French right, previously named the Union for a Popular Movement

Question 31

Nicolas Sarkozy

Answer 31

President from 2007 to 2012

Question 32

Semi-Presidential

Answer 32

A legislative-executive system that divides political power among the legislature, a president, and a prime minister

Question 33

Senat

Answer 33

France's 348-member upper house

Question 34

Union for a Popular Movement

Answer 34

A single cohesive party of the center-right formed in 2002

Question 35

Union for French Democracy

Answer 35

An alliance of five center-right parties founded in 1978 by Chirac's rival and former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing as a more neoliberal force of the French right

Question 36

Yellow Vests Movement

Answer 36

Mass protests that began in late 2018 in opposition to tax reforms and reductions in subsides for gasoline; the movement was named for the safety vests that French motorists are required to carry in their vehicles