It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into French nationality law. (Discuss)

According to the French Republic, the French people are those who are in possession of French nationality. According to the French Constitutional Council, "the Constitution, recognizes none other than the French people, composed of all its citizens, making no distinction of race, ethnic origin or religion."1 Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that French citizenship and identity be merged into this article or section. ...

Throughout the twentieth century, France has exhibited a very high rate of immigration, mainly from Southern Europe, the Maghreb, Africa and Asia. According to a 2004 report by INED researcher Michèle Tribalat France has approximately 14 million persons (out of nearly 63 million) (see demographics of France) of foreign ascendancy (immigrants or with at least one parent or great-parent immigrant). Disclaimer: It must be noted that reference to French people as an ethnic group is not present in French official terminology. ...

The absence of official statistics on French citizens of foreign origin is not coincidental. The idea of French ethnicity is not one which informs mainstream discourse in France. Under French law passed after the Vichy regime, it is forbidden to categorize people according to their ethnic origins. In France, as in many European countries, censuses do not collect information on supposed ancestry. Moreover, all French statistics are forbidden to have any references concerning ethnic membership. Thus, the French government's assimilationist stance towards immigration as well as towards regional identities and cultures, together with the political heritage of the French revolution has led to the development of a French identity which is based more on the notion of citizenship than on cultural, historical or ethnic ties. For other uses of Vichy, see Vichy (disambiguation). ... A graph of a bell curve in a normal distribution showing statistics used in educational assessment, comparing various grading methods. ...

For this reason, French identity must not necessarily be associated with the "ethnic French people". In fact, the existence itself of a "French ethnic group" is more than disputed, since many Frenchmen argue that it is a nationality and a citizenship, and not an ethnicity. "French ethnicity" exists outside France's borders, in particular in Quebec where many people claim membership to a "French ethnic group", and is not shared by everyone within France. However, France's particular self-perception, similar to that of immigrant countries such as the USA, means that French identity may include an ethnic Portuguese or Algerian but not an "ethnic French" from Quebec. // The French people (French: les Français), etymologically derives from the word Franks, a Germanic tribe which overran Gaul at the end of the Roman empire. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor Linné) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of...

Rights and obligations of French citizens

In modern France in general the rights are fundamentally the same as those in other EU countries. Despite this official discourse of universality, French nationality has not meant automatic citizenship. Some categories of French people have been excluded, through out the years, from full citizenship:

• Women: until the Liberation, they were deprived of the right to vote. The provisional government of General de Gaulle accorded them this right by the April 21, 1944 prescription. However, women still suffer from under-representation in the political class and from lesser wages at equal functions. The June 6, 2000 law on parity attempted to address this question ^[1].
• Military: for a long time, it was named the Grande muette ("The Big Mute") in reference to its prohibition from interfering in political life. During a large part of the Third Republic (1871-1940), the Army was in its majority anti-republicanism (and thus counterrevolutionary). The Dreyfus Affair and the May 16, 1877 crisis, which almost led to a monarchist coup d'état by MacMahon, are examples of this anti-republican spirit. Therefore, they would only gain the right to vote with the August 17, 1945 prescription: the contribution of De Gaulle to the interior French Resistance reconciled the Army with the Republic. Nevertheless, militaries do not benefit from the whole of public liberties, as the July 13, 1972 law on the general statute of militaries specify.
• Young people: the July 1974 law voted at the instigation of president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing reduced to 18 years the coming of age, which thus made of these teenagers full citizens.
• Naturalized foreigners. Since the January 9, 1973 law, foreigners who have acquired French nationality don't have to wait anymore five years after their naturalization to be able to vote.
• Inhabitants of the colonies. The May 7, 1946 law meant that soldiers from the "Empire" (such as the tirailleurs) killed during World War I and World War II weren't citizens ^[2].

It must also be noted that France was one of the first country to implement denaturalization laws. Philosopher Giorgio Agamben has pointed out this fact that the 1915 French law which permitted denaturalization with regard to naturalized citizens of "enemy" origins was one of the first example of such legislation, which Nazi Germany later implemented with the 1935 Nuremberg Laws ^[3]. The movement for womens suffrage is a social, economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage—the right to vote—to women. ... Suffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. ... Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ) (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970), in France commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The French Third Republic, (in French, La Troisième République, sometimes written as La IIIe République) (1870/75-10 July 1940) was the governing body of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy Regime. ... It has been suggested that Républicanisme be merged into this article or section. ... A counterrevolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part. ... The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal which divided France during the 1890s and early 1900s. ... Seize Mai (16th of May) is a name for the political crisis in France on May 16, 1877, involving a struggle for supremacy between the French President, Marshal MacMahon, and the republican-controlled Chamber of Deputies. ... Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy. ... A coup détat (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta President of France, 1873-1879 Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta, Marshal of France (July 13, 1808 - October 16, 1893) was a Frenchman of Irish descent. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Bold textItalic textLink title // Headline text Headline text Headline text == The cross of Lorraine used by the French Resistance as a symbolic reference to Joan of Arc. ... July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Valéry Marie René Giscard dEstaing [IPA: vÉ‘leÊ€i mÉ‘Ê€i ʀəne Ê’iskÉ‘Ê€ dÉ›stɛ̃] (born 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, Germany) is a French center-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ... Naturalization is the act whereby a person voluntarily and actively acquires a nationality which is not his or her nationality at birth. ... January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue — plain and hachured) French colonial empires France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. ... May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (128th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Tirailleur means sharpshooter in French. ... Combatants Allied Powers: France Italy Russia Serbia United Kingdom United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Please note: Any racial comments are not intended to be racist. ... Giorgio Agamben (1942 –) is an Italian philosopher who teaches at the University of Verona. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... It has been suggested that Reich Citizenship Law be merged into this article or section. ...

Furthermore, some authors who have insisted on the "crisis of the nation-state" allege that nationality and citizenship are becoming separate concepts. They show as example "international", "supranational citizenship" or "world citizenship" (membership to transnational organizations, such as Amnesty International or Greenpeace NGOs). This would indicate a path toward a "postnational citizenship" ^[2]. link titleThe word international can mean: Between nations or encompassing several nations. ... Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in international organizations, where power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states. ... A World Citizen flag. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with transnationalism. ... Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is an non-governmental membership organization with the stated purpose of campaigning for internationally recognized human rights. ... Greenpeace is an international environmental organization founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1971. ... NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Beside this, modern citizenship is linked to civic participation (also called positive freedom), which design voting, demonstrations, petitions, activism, etc. Therefore, social exclusion may lead to deprive one of his/her citizenship. This has led various authors (Philippe Van Parijs, Jean-Marc Ferry, Alain Caillé, André Gorz) to theorize a guaranteed minimum income which would impede exclusion from citizenship. ^[4] Positive liberty, an idea that was first expressed and analyzed as a separate conception of liberty by John Stuart Mill but most notably described by Isaiah Berlin, refers to the ability to act to fulfill ones own potential, as opposed to negative liberty, which refers to freedom from the... A man carries a sign at the September 24, 2005 anti-war protest, a demonstration in Washington, D.C. American Civil Rights March on Washington, leaders marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963. ... Look up Petition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A petition is a request to an authority, most commonly a government official or public entity. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... Social exclusion can be defined as how a persons social class and living standards effect their access to life chances. ... Philippe Van Parijs (born 1951) is a Belgian philosopher and political economist, mainly known as secretary of the Basic Income European Network. ... André Gorz (*1924 in Vienna), born as a son of a Jewish wood salesman, is an Austrian and French social philosopher. ... A guaranteed minimum income is a proposed system of income redistribution that would give each citizen a certain sum of money independent of whether they work or not. ...

References

1. ^ (French) Loi n° 2000-493 du 6 juin 2000 tendant à favoriser l’égal accès des femmes et des hommes aux mandats électoraux et fonctions électives. French Senate (June 6, 2000). Retrieved on May 2, 2006.
2. ^ ^a b (French) B. Villalba. Chapitre 2 - Les incertitudes de la citoyenneté. Catholic University of Lille, Law Department. Retrieved on May 3, 2006.
3. ^ See Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Stanford University Press (1998), ISBN 0-8047-3218-3.
4. ^ (French) P. Hassenteufel, "Exclusion sociale et citoyenneté", "Citoyenneté et société", Cahiers Francais, n° 281, mai-juin 1997), quoted by B. Villalba of the Catholic University of Lille, op.cit.