France
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The French Republic
France is a country in Western Europe, bordered by Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
Government
France has a semi-presidential system of government as laid down by the constitution (called the Fifth Republic). This means that there is an executive president elected independently of the legislature and an executive prime minister with responsibility to the legislature. So it has features of a presidential and a parliamentary system.
The current President is Nicolas Sarkozy. The current PM is Dominque de Villepin.
France is also a founding member of the EU and the G8. It possesses a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
History
France was ruled by a monarchy up until the French Revolution in 1789, occurring under King Louis XVI. As time past, the originally freedom based revolution turned away from liberty and an era known as the reign of terror began.
The reign of terror was ended by Napoleon Bonaparte taking power as an emperor.
Popular Culture
On gauche American television, the French are sometimes referred to as "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys."
Flag
The French national flag is reffered to as the "Tricolour" Image:Example.jpg
Demographics
France has a population of 63,718,187, according to theCIA World Factbook
Religion The same souce claims 83-88% of the population is Roman Catholic, 5-10% Muslim, 2% Protestant, and most of the remainder being Jewish or Unaffiliated.
Quality of Life
The average life expectancy for the total population is 80.59 years.
Infant mortality is 3.41 deaths per 1000 live births.
Literacy is 99% for the total population 15 and older.
