Great Britain and France -: towards democracy

Similarities: size, location, climate, size of population

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Their histories influenced one another for 1000 years; Roots of the English
royal family: an army of William the Conqueror (of Normandy) conquered
Britain in 1066
1534 -> Protestant Reformation under Henry VIII; France-> mainly Catholic
England -> Industrial Revolution; France-> later
Marx based his principles on England
UK-> Parliamentary gov; never had a written constitution; France->
absolute monarchy; had more than a dozen constitutions
Britain: industrialized, urbanized, rich cultural life; Churchill -> WWII hero
o Aftermath: Conservative Party (1951; 1970) lost the election
o The Labour Party won (1945; 1964)
1944: the establishment of the welfare state in Britain; laws:
1944-> the Education Act allowed more people to get education
1948-> the establishment of the National Health Service ->medical care
without pay
Labour Party-> nationalization : Bank of England, coal mines, civil aviation,
fluvial transport, road transport; recovery after WWII -> up to the early 50s
rations were kept
1951: Conservative Party returned to power up to 1964
PMs:
o 1951-1955 W. Churchill
o 1955-1957 Anthony Eden
o 1857-1963 H. Macmillan
o 1963-1964 Alan Douglas Home
A period of social consensus, eco growth, full employment; the living
standard rose
1964: 1st signs of eco slowdown; period of decline of the welfare state
1964-1970 Labour rule
o PM: Harold Wilson (economist) -> poor performance in the eco field
o 1967 -> gov-> IMF loan
1970-1974 -> C.P rule
o The most difficult period; 1973-> oil shock + Rolls Royce almost
bankrupt
o Strikes throughout the country
o Pbs with coal-> turned to nuclear energy (also France and other
countries)
1974 1979 -> Labour Party
o Total collapse of the welfare state
o High unemployment (in 1975 the biggest since the 1930s),
inflation
Solution => move to the right => Margaret Thatcher -> strong gov = total
renounciation of the welfare state
o Reducing public cpending, the size of the gov, privatization, the
bureaucratic apparatus => unemployment rose => protests, strikes
o 1982 -> the Argentinean gov occupied the Falkland Islands -> UK
won the war => national pride
1979-1990-> Margaret Thatcher ; forced to resign lost support in the CP
Until 1997 -> CP in power

1997 -> Reformed Labor Party led by Tony Blair came to power

France
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Totally different
After 1789-> new pol regime every 20 years: 2 monarchies, 2 empires, 5
Republics, 1 pro-Nazi gov
o 1792-1804 1st Republic
o 1848 1851 2nd Republic
o 1871 1940 3rd Repulic
o 1946 1959 4th Republic
o 1959 today 5th Republic
Empires:
o Napoleon Bonaparte 1804 1815
o Louis Napoleon 1851 1870
Pro-Nazi -> Vichy Republic -> 1940 1944
WWII-> created a major division in the French political culture
1940 occupied by the Nazi + the Vichy Republic
Against the Nazis: under Charles de Gaulle ->established the forces of Free
France in Great Britain
Others->remained at home and joined the resistance- the Gaullists + the
Communists
125,000 trials of ppl who collaborated with the Nazis -> 40,000 sentences
=>collapse of traditional center-right policy; MRP -> Movement
Republicaine Populaire ->important fot the birth of a center-right party
Socialists and communists emerged as major political forces => a
movement to oust them from power
1946 -> Charles de Gaulle resigned => ambiguous pol legacy of the 4 th
Republic
1946-1949 -> absolute parliamentarism -> instability

Colonies
Great Britain -> after WWII -> lost India (liberation movement of Gandhi)
France -> Indochina + Algeria (allowed to become independent -> 1958 crisis
the National Liberation Front -> armed struggle against the French) + internal
crisis -> pol instability
Solution: coming back to Gen de Gaulle
Constitution: very powerful president + Parliament
De Gaulle returned to power (1959-1969) -> period of international
prestige
- 1968 -> revolutionary year; conflict of generations esp for France, W
Germany, Italy
- Ideological terrorism is born
- May 1968 -> French students build barricades on the streets of Paris de
Gaulle was visiting Romania
- The Gaullists in power until 1981
- 1981 -> F. Mitterrand came to power; socialist allied with the communists

Political families
1. Gaullists
o Developed in the aftermath of WWII
o The Union for a New Republic strongest party (1958-1969)
o 1st party with Parl majority
o 1977-> reorganized by Jacques Chirac => Rally for the Republic
o 1974-1981 -> president Valry Giscard d'Estaing (Union for French
democracy split from Chirac)
2. Socialists
o Developed on the basis of SFIO
o 1920s-1939s -> very powerful
o Lost in the aftermath of WWII
o Reorg by Mitterrand in 1971 as the Socialist Party
o 1981 + communists -> came to power
3. Communists
o Emerged as powerful pol force after WWII
o 1981 -> grand moment
o Decline -> after the collape of communism in E-C Europe
4. Nationalists
o National Front -> Jean- Marie Le Pen
o Came to prominence and fell into oblivion