Comparing Political Structures of France vs. Britain

Scholars from Aristotle onward have proposed that the characteristics of society directly affect the nature of government. If we apply this to Britain and France, we shall see that this proposal is definitely true. The difference between the British and French cultures becomes obvious when an assessment looks at their political systems, and each of the 6 structures, and the full range of the political culture's influence on each structure is understood.

Political socialization is the learning of your political culture; it is the process of acquiring the values and beliefs of the political system. Older generations pass on values and beliefs to the younger generations, thus political socialization starts in the family. After the family, it advances to the educational system, and it is the basis of acquiring political culture. In Britain, the two most important means of socialization are family and education. The family teaches civic responsibility and class differences, although, unlike France, these are moderated by British politics. The educational system reiterates the class differences, but is not as elitist as in France. As for France, the family, and education are the most im

The British and French assemblies are very similar. Both have bicameral assemblies, and their lower chambers are directly elected by the people. The Upper Chambers have extremely limited power, and the Lower Chamber mainly legitimizes laws and amendments. In Britain, the lower chamber is called the House of Commons, and is best known to legitimize laws and amendments thru open-debate. Most people do not watch or pay attention to these debates, because their political culture has left them with the trust that the government will make the right decision, and need not to worry. The recruitment base of the House of Commons is very wide, more than half of the members attended regular state schools, thus reducing class differences, and being open for almost anyone. In France, the lower chamber is called the National Assembly, and mainly legitimizes, just like the House of Commons. They do not have any policy-making powers, but the recruitment is a narrow-base, mainly the upper-class, that went to the exclusive, best schools. Compared, the assemblies of both France and Britain are very similar, but there are differences. For example, the National Assembly has an extremely narrow recruitment base, while the House of Commons is more accessible. This is because in France, the political culture has always been that the people felt class differences, and thus the National Assembly has a smaller, upper-class base, whereas Britain has always maintained to reduce class differences and conflict, so it is much more open and easy to get to to people, regardless of class.

Next, we have Interest Groups in France and Britain. In both countries, their main job is to articulate. In Britain, Interest groups are highly integrated with the political systems; they are molded into the Labor party, and provide most of the leadership and membership of the Party. This is highly different than France. In France, there are the big-time interest groups, such as the FNSEA, the FO and the CGT, that have special access to the Grand Corps, because they are well organized, and well ran. But, the French are not accustomed to belong to a certain party, or interest groups. They are individualistic, so turnouts are quite low as for membership. Also, they believe that direct change only comes from direct action, such as protests. This agrees with their political culture, as for being highly individualistic, and tends to vote more on the ideological left or right than belong to a certain group or party. When we compare the interest group systems in France and Britain, we see due to the fact of political culture, that Britain has very organized, non-protest groups, while France has radical change and enormous protests if their demands are not met.

Political culture is the psychological dimension of politics. In order to understand politics, you must understand that it is more than structures and procedures, it is all about perception. The perception of the people includes the values, beliefs and attitudes people have about their political institutions and procedures. These values and beliefs determine the degree of legitimacy to which people attach to their political system, and give the government the right to exercise the power.

Next, we shall discuss the Judiciary of Britain and France. The main function for the judiciary in both these countries is adjudication, which is to interpret the law. For Britain, they have the Lords of Appeal. It is part of the House of Lords, and is primarily a ceremonial court. It is not independent, and

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