France : Introduction and Economy  I. Introduction When we
examine France, we are looking at a country with a rich, if
varied history. The French comprise one of the oldest nation-
states in Europe and one that has played a dominant role on the
continent for the last millennium. - similar to the us in the
sense that there is a written constitution, yet there have been
sixteen different constitutions in France since 1789, and eleven
different government. Since the collapse of the Second Empire in
1870, with the exception of the interruption of the Second World
War, all of these governments have been democratic, yet they
have varied in form. Within French history we have seen the
contradictory impulses of egalitarianism and the desire for a
strong ruler. For examples of the first we can look at the
first, second, third, and fourth republics, for the latter see
the first (Napoleon Bonaparte) and second (Louis Napoleon)
empires and the present fifth republic (formed by de Gaulle). -
de Gaulle and the difficulty of