62-509: Alexandre-Félix-Joseph Ribot ( French pronunciation: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ ʁibo] ; 7 February 1842 – 13 January 1923) was a French politician, four times Prime Minister . Ribot was born in Saint-Omer , Pas-de-Calais. After a brilliant academic career at the University of Paris , where he was lauréat of the faculty of law, he rapidly made his mark at the bar. He was secretary of
124-673: A draft period, and tried to promote understanding between France and Germany. As conflict became imminent, he tried to organise general strikes in France and Germany in order to force the governments to back down and negotiate. This proved difficult, however, as many Frenchmen sought revenge ( revanche ) for their country's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the return of the lost Alsace-Lorraine territory. Then, in May 1914, with Jaurès intending to form an alliance with Joseph Caillaux for
186-513: A bill with Jules Guesde that proposed nationalization of the wine estates. After troops had shot wine growing demonstrators later that month, Parliament renewed its confidence in the government. Jaurès's L'Humanité carried the headline, "The House acquits the mass killers of the Midi". In the general elections of 1906 , Jaurès was again elected for the Tarn. His ability was now generally recognized, but
248-498: A devout Catholic. In 1889, after unsuccessfully contesting the Castres seat, this time under the banner of Socialism, he returned to his professional duties at Toulouse , where he took an active interest in municipal affairs and helped to found the medical faculty of the university. He also prepared two theses for his doctorate in philosophy, De primis socialismi germanici lineamentis apud Lutherum , Kant , Fichte et Hegel ( "On
310-557: A link in the chain of international solidarity. Speaking at Jaurès's funeral a few days later, CGT leader Léon Jouhaux declared, "All working men ... we take the field with the determination to drive back the aggressor." As if in reverence to his memory, the Socialists in the Chamber agreed to suspend all sabotage activity in support of the Union Sacrée . Poincaré commented that, "In
372-481: A majority. While prime ministers are usually chosen from amongst the ranks of the National Assembly, on rare occasions the president has selected a non-officeholder because of experience in bureaucracy or foreign service, or success in business management—former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin , for example, served as prime minister from 2005 to 2007 without having held elected office. Although
434-433: A political outlook and social philosophy that came to dominate revolutionary movements on the left. Jaurès was initially a moderate republican, opposed to both Clemenceau 's Radicalism and socialism. He developed into a socialist during the late 1880s, when he was in his late 20s. In 1892 the miners of Carmaux went on strike over the dismissal of their leader, Jean Baptiste Calvignac . Jaurès 's campaigning forced
496-506: Is Michel Barnier , who was appointed on 5 September 2024. The prime minister is appointed by the president of France , who is theoretically free to pick anyone for the post. In practice, because the National Assembly has the power to force the resignation of the government by adopting a motion of no confidence , the choice of prime minister must reflect the will of the majority in the National Assembly. In periods of cohabitation ,
558-672: Is the only member of the government able to introduce legislation in Parliament. Under the Third Republic , the French Constitutional Laws of 1875 titled the head of government as the "President of the Council of Ministers" ( French : Président du Conseil des Ministres ), though he was informally called "prime minister" or "premier" outside of France . The president of the council was vested with similar formal powers to those of
620-726: The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State . In 1904, he founded the socialist paper L'Humanité . According to Geoffrey Kurtz, Jaures was "instrumental" in the reforms carried out by the administration, Emile Combes, "influencing the content of legislation and keeping the factions within the Bloc united." Following the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International ,
682-690: The Académie Française in succession to the duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier . He was already a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Science. In justification of his policy in opposition, he published in 1905 two volumes of his Discours politiques . On 3 January 1909, Ribot was elected a member of the French Senate , and in February of the following year was offered but refused the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in
SECTION 10
#1732858986810744-466: The Albi lycée before lecturing at the University of Toulouse . He was elected Republican deputy for the département of Tarn in 1885, sitting alongside the moderate Opportunist Republicans , opposed both to Georges Clemenceau 's Radicals and to the Socialists. He then supported both Jules Ferry and Léon Gambetta . On 29 June 1886 Jaurès married Louise Bois who despite Jaurès's secularism remained
806-698: The Ferry cabinet for the Tonkin expedition, and helped Georges Clemenceau overthrow the ministry in 1885. At the general election of that year he was a victim of the Republican rout in the Pas-de-Calais, and did not re-enter the chamber till 1887. After 1889 he sat for Saint-Omer. His fear of the Boulangist movement converted him to the policy of "Republican Concentration," and he entered office in 1890 as foreign minister in
868-550: The Fifth Republic . It was at this point that the post was formally named "Prime Minister" and took its present form. The 1958 Constitution includes several provisions intended to strengthen the prime minister's position, for instance by restricting the legislature's power to censure the government. As a result, a prime minister has only been censured once during the existence of the Fifth Republic, in 1962 when Georges Pompidou
930-519: The Freycinet cabinet. He had an intimate acquaintance and sympathy with English institutions, and two of his published works – Biographie de Lord Erskine , a speech to the Conférence des avocats (1866), and Etude sur l'acte du 5 avril 1873 pour l'établissement d'une cour suprême de justice en Angleterre (1874) – deal with English law; he also gave a fresh and highly important direction to French policy by
992-639: The Monis cabinet. After the formation of the Poincaré Government on 14 January 1912, Ribot took the place of Léon Bourgeois as president of the committee appointed to deal with the Franco-German treaty, the necessity for the ratification of which he demonstrated. In 1913 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the Republic, and on the fall of Louis Barthou 's Government was invited by Poincaré, who
1054-657: The conference of advocates and one of the founders of the Sociéte de legislation comparée . During 1875 and 1876 he was successively director of criminal affairs and secretary-general at the ministry of justice. In 1877 he entered politics, playing a conspicuous part on the committee of legal resistance during the Broglie ministry; in the following year he was returned to the chamber as a moderate republican member for Boulogne , in his native département of Pas-de-Calais . His impassioned yet reasoned eloquence gave him an influence which
1116-544: The prime minister of the French Republic ( Premier ministre de la République française ), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers . The prime minister is the holder of the second-highest office in France, after the president of France . The president, who appoints but cannot dismiss the prime minister, can request resignation. The Government of France , including
1178-457: The prime minister of the United Kingdom . In practice, this proved insufficient to command the confidence of France's multi-party parliament. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the entire cabinet out of office by a vote of censure . As a result, cabinets were often toppled twice a year, and there were long stretches where France was left with only a caretaker government. Under
1240-455: The 20th of that month, Jaurès voted against a parliamentary subsidy for Poincaré's visit to St. Petersburg; which he condemned as both dangerous and provocative. The Caillaux–Jaurès alliance was dedicated to defeating military objectives that were aimed at precipitating war. France sent a mission, headed by Poincaré, to coordinate French and Russian responses. Always a pacifist, Jaurès rushed back to Paris to attempt an impossible reconciliation with
1302-542: The Chamber on 21 March he declared this to be "to recover the provinces torn from us in the past, to obtain the reparations and guarantees due to France, and to prepare a durable peace based on respect for the rights and liberty of peoples." On 31 July, in a reply to the German Chancellor Georg Michaelis , he admitted that in 1917 an agreement had been made with Tsar Nicholas to erect the German territories on
SECTION 20
#17328589868101364-670: The Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Treasury. When Briand reconstituted his Cabinet, in December 1916, Ribot retained the portfolio of Finance. On the fall of the Briand Ministry, President Poincaré again called upon Ribot to form a government, and this time he consented, himself taking the portfolio of Foreign Affairs in addition to the premiership (19 March). In the statement of his policy made to
1426-585: The Constitution, the prime minister "shall direct the actions of the Government". Additionally, Article 20 stipulates that the government "shall determine and conduct the policy of the Nation", and it includes domestic issues, while the president concentrates on formulating directions on national defense and foreign policy while arbitrating the efficient service of all governmental authorities in France. Other members of
1488-635: The French socialist groups held a Congress at Rouen in March 1905, which resulted in a new consolidation, with the merger of Jaurès's French Socialist Party and Guesde's Socialist Party of France. The new party, headed by Jaurès and Guesde, ceased to co-operate with the Radical groups, and became known as the Parti Socialiste Unifié (PSU, Unified Socialist Party), pledged to advance a collectivist programme. All
1550-760: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Painlevé cabinet constituted six days later. He resigned office finally on 16 October, owing to the violent criticism of his refusal to fall into the "trap" of the German peace offers. Ribot left politics, and died in Paris on 13 January 1923 at the age of 80. The main grammar school (lycée) in Saint-Omer, the Lycée Alexandre Ribot , bears his name today. Changes Changes Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (French: Premier ministre français ), officially
1612-454: The President's secret deal with Russia. This would have led to a policy of détente with Germany, preventing war and the inevitable carnage. Russia had covertly subsidized Poincaré's election campaign. Poincaré had, in this theory, therefore abandoned socialism for another party and warfare. Even if Germany intentionally condemned Belgium to occupation, they had already accused Russia of starting
1674-707: The Socialist Workers of France and Jean Allemane 's Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party to form the French Socialist Party, of which Jaurès became the leader. They represented a social democratic stance, opposed to Jules Guesde's revolutionary Socialist Party of France. During the Combes administration his influence secured the coherence of the Radical -Socialist coalition known as the Bloc des gauches , which enacted
1736-490: The adoption of a modern system of education. The policy of the Waldeck-Rousseau ministry on the religious teaching congregations broke up the Republican party, and Ribot was among the seceders; but at the general election of 1902, though he himself secured re-election, his policy suffered a severe check. In 1902, M. Ribot participated in lucrative politics when he acted as the minister of Foreign Affairs and chose to agree to
1798-555: The anti-clerical policy of the Combes cabinet, he now announced his willingness to recognize a new régime to replace the Concordat of 1801 , and gave the government his support in the establishment of the Associations culturelles while he secured some mitigation of the severities attending the separation. He was re-elected deputy for Saint-Omer in 1906. In the same year, he became a member of
1860-588: The belligerent parties from going ahead with the war. Villain also intended to murder Henriette Caillaux with his two engraved pistols. Tried after World War I and acquitted, he was later killed by the Republicans in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War . Shock waves ran through the streets of Paris. One of the government's most charismatic and compelling orators had been assassinated. His opponent, President Poincaré, sent his sympathies to Jaurès's widow. Paris
1922-429: The cancelation of Egyptian debt at the cost of access to resources. This manipulation of Egypt's economy by M.Ribot was motivated by his personal political intentions. He actively opposed the policy of the Combes ministry and denounced the alliance with Jean Jaurès , and on 13 January 1905, he was one of the leaders of the opposition to bring about the fall of the cabinet. Although he had been most violent in denouncing
Alexandre Ribot - Misplaced Pages Continue
1984-412: The circumstances, the president of the council was usually a fairly weak figure whose strength was more dependent on charisma than formal powers. Often, he was little more than primus inter pares , and was more the cabinet's chairman than its leader. After several unsuccessful attempts to strengthen the role in the first half of the twentieth century, a semi-presidential system was introduced under
2046-421: The conflict. This theory, downplaying Germany's aggressive moves, was not widely supported in France. In the centenary year of his assassination, politicians from all sides of the political spectrum paid tribute to him and claimed he would have supported them. François Hollande declared that "Jaurès, the man of socialism, is today the man of all of France" while in 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy declared that his party
2108-439: The events. His book Histoire Socialiste (1900–03) shaped interpretations—from Albert Mathiez (1874–1932), Albert Soboul (1914–1982) and Georges Lefebvre (1874–1959)—that came to dominate teaching analysis in class-conflict terms well into the 1980s. Jaurès emphasized the central role the middle class played in the aristocratic Brumaire , as well as the emergence of the working class " sans-culottes " who espoused
2170-546: The first delineations of German socialism in the writings of [Martin] Luther, [Immanuel] Kant, [Johann Gottlieb] Fichte and [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich] Hegel" ) (1891), and De la réalité du monde sensible . Jaurès became a highly influential historian of the French Revolution . Research in the archives in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris led him to the formulation of a theoretical Marxist interpretation of
2232-524: The government are appointed by the president "on the recommendation of the prime minister". In practice, the prime minister acts in harmony with the president, except when there is a cohabitation . During cohabitation, according to the Constitutional Council, "the center of gravity of power shifts from the Elysée to Matignon", with the president losing his status as head of the executive. In such cases,
2294-519: The government still has support in the house, some bills that might prove too controversial to pass through the normal assembly rules are able to be passed this way. The prime minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council (article 61). Before dissolving the assembly, the president must consult the prime minister and the presidents of both houses of Parliament (article 12). The prime minister
2356-541: The government to intervene and require Calvignac 's reinstatement. The following year , Jaurès was re-elected to the National Assembly as socialist deputy for Tarn, a seat he retained (apart from the four years 1898 to 1902 ) until his death. Defeated in the legislative election of 1898 , he spent four years without a legislative seat. His eloquent speeches nonetheless made him a force to be reckoned with as an intellectual champion of socialism. He edited La Petite République , and was, along with Émile Zola , one of
2418-540: The government. Russia had partially mobilized, which Germany took as an extreme provocation. On 31 July 1914, Jaurès was assassinated. At 9 pm, he went to dine at the Café du Croissant on Rue Montmartre . Forty minutes later, Raoul Villain , a 29-year-old French nationalist, walked up to the restaurant window and fired two shots into Jaurès's back. He died five minutes later at 9:45 pm. Jaurès had been due to attend an international conference on 9 August, in an attempt to dissuade
2480-598: The labour movement, the Socialists won the General Election. They planned to take office and "press for a policy of European peace". Jaurès accused French President Raymond Poincaré of being "more Russian than Russia" and premier René Viviani as being compliant. In July 1914, he attended the Socialist Congress in Brussels where he struck up a constructive solidarity with German socialist party leader Hugo Haase . On
2542-611: The left bank of the Rhine into an autonomous state, but denied that there had been any question of their annexation to France. Ribot's final ministry was during the most dismal part of the First World War, seeing the failure of the Nivelle Offensive and the famous mutiny of the French soldiers which followed. Following the decision to dismiss Interior Minister Louis Malvy , his government resigned office on 2 September, but he accepted
Alexandre Ribot - Misplaced Pages Continue
2604-520: The memory of man, there had never been anything more beautiful in France." On 23 November 1924, his remains were transferred to the Panthéon . Joseph Caillaux and Jaurès were fellow anti-militarists trying to halt the slide to war in July 1914. But Caillaux was paralyzed, politically and emotionally, by the trial of his wife for murder. With the trial over (July 28) Caillaux and Jaurès hoped they could expose
2666-674: The most energetic defenders of Alfred Dreyfus during the Dreyfus Affair . He approved of Alexandre Millerand , and the socialist's inclusion in the René Waldeck-Rousseau cabinet , though this led to an irredeemable split with the more revolutionary section led by Jules Guesde forming the Independent Socialists Party. In 1902 , Jaurès returned as deputy for Albi. The independent socialists merged with Paul Brousse 's " possibilist " (reformist) Federation of
2728-452: The outbreak of World War I Ribot's great reputation as an expert in finance and foreign affairs brought him effectively into office. On 27 August 1914 he became Minister of Finance in Viviani's Ministry of National Defence, an office which he retained when, on 28 October 1915, Aristide Briand succeeded Viviani as Prime Minister. On 7 February 1916 he visited London and held a conference with
2790-429: The president's choice of prime minister must be in accordance with the majority in the National Assembly, a prime minister does not have to ask for a vote of confidence after a government formation, having been legitimized by the president's assignment and approval of the government. Prior to the 1958 Constitution, the government was required to pass a motion of confidence upon entering office. According to article 21 of
2852-456: The prime minister is entitled to preside. Ministers defend the programmes of their ministries to the prime minister, who makes budgetary choices. The extent to which those decisions lie with the prime minister or president often depends upon whether they are of the same political party. If so, the president may serve as both the head of state and de facto head of government, while the prime minister serves as his deputy. The current prime minister
2914-472: The prime minister is only responsible to the parliament. One example of cohabitation includes President François Mitterrand 's appointment of Jacques Chirac as prime minister after the legislative election of 1986 . While Mitterrand's Socialist Party was the largest party in the National Assembly, it did not have an absolute majority. The RPR had an alliance with the Union for French Democracy , which gave them
2976-461: The prime minister traditionally exercises primacy in domestic affairs, while the president limits their action to defense and, to a lesser degree, to foreign affairs. The prime minister can "engage the responsibility" of the government before the National Assembly. This process consists of placing a bill before the assembly, and either the assembly overthrows the government, or the bill is passed automatically (article 49). In addition to ensuring that
3038-456: The prime minister, can be dismissed by the National Assembly . Upon appointment, the prime minister proposes a list of ministers to the president. Decrees and decisions signed by the prime minister, like almost all executive decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Some decrees are taken after advice from the Council of State (French: Conseil d'État ), over which
3100-593: The refusal of the chamber to accept the Senate's amendments to the budget. On the election of Félix Faure as president of the Republic in January 1895, Ribot again became premier and minister of finance. On 10 June he was able to make the first official announcement of a definite alliance with Russia. On 30 October the government was defeated on the question of the Chemin de fer du Sud , and resigned office. The real reason of its fall
3162-445: The socialist movements unified the same year in the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). On 1 May 1905 Jaurès visited a newly formed wine making cooperative in Maraussan . He said the peasants had to unite instead of refusing to help each other. He told them to, "in the vat of the Republic, prepare the wine of the Social Revolution!". As the revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers developed, on 11 June 1907 Jaurès filed
SECTION 50
#17328589868103224-744: The strength of the SFIO still had to reckon with radical Georges Clemenceau, who was able to appeal to his countrymen (in a notable speech in the spring of 1906) to rally to a Radical programme which had no socialist ideas in view, although Clemenceau was sensitive to the conditions of the working class. Clemenceau's image as a strong and practical leader considerably diminished socialist populism. In addition to daily journalistic activity, Jaurès published Les preuves ; Affaire Dreyfus (1900); Action socialiste (1899); Études socialistes (1902), and, with other collaborators, Histoire socialiste (1901), etc. In 1911, he travelled to Lisbon and Buenos Aires . He supported, albeit not without criticisms,
3286-460: The teaching of regional languages , such as Occitan , Basque and Breton , commonly known as " patois ", thus opposing, on this issue, traditional Republican Jacobinism . Jaures opposed imperialism, arguing that it posed a threat to peace in Europe. Jaurès was a committed antimilitarist who tried to use diplomatic means to prevent what became the First World War. In 1913, he opposed Émile Driant 's Three-Year Service Law , which implemented
3348-420: The understanding with Russia , which was declared to the world by the visit of the French fleet to Kronstadt in 1891, and which subsequently ripened into a formal treaty of alliance. He retained his post in Émile Loubet 's ministry (February–November 1892), and on its defeat he became president of the council (prime minister), retaining the direction of foreign affairs. The government resigned in March 1893 over
3410-455: Was assassinated in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I but remains one of the main historical figures of the French Left . As a heterodox Marxist , Jaurès rejected the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat and tried to conciliate idealism and materialism , individualism and collectivism , democracy and class struggle , and patriotism and internationalism . The son of an unsuccessful businessman and farmer, Jean Jaurès
3472-435: Was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican , he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibilists (the reformist wing of the socialist movement) and in 1902 the leader of the French Socialist Party , which opposed Jules Guesde 's revolutionary Socialist Party of France . The two parties merged in 1905 in the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). An antimilitarist , he
3534-473: Was born in Castres , Tarn , into a modest French provincial haut-bourgeois family. His younger brother, Louis , became an admiral and a Republican-Socialist deputy. A brilliant student, Jaurès was educated at the Lycée Sainte-Barbe in Paris and admitted first at the École normale supérieure , in philosophy , in 1878, ahead of Henri Bergson . He obtained his agrégation of philosophy in 1881, ending up third, and then taught philosophy for two years at
3596-419: Was increased by his articles in the Parlement in which he opposed violent measures against the unauthorized congregations. He devoted himself especially to financial questions, and in 1882 was reporter of the budget. He became one of the most prominent republican opponents of the Radical party, distinguishing himself by his attacks on the short-lived Gambetta ministry. He refused to vote the credits demanded by
3658-418: Was now President, to form a Cabinet but refused. In 1914 he became, with Jean Dupuy , leader of the Left Republican group which refused to accept the decisions of the Radical Socialist congress at Pau in October 1913. On 9 June 1914, Ribot became Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, but his Government was bitterly assailed by the Radical Socialists as well as other groups, and only lasted one day. With
3720-449: Was on the brink of revolution: Jaurès had been advocating a general strike and had narrowly avoided sedition charges. One important consequence was that the cabinet postponed the arrest of socialist revolutionaries. Viviani reassured Britain of Belgian neutrality but also said that "the gloves were off". Jaurès's murder brought matters one step closer to world war. It helped to destabilise the French government, whilst simultaneously breaking
3782-429: Was the mismanagement of the Second Madagascar expedition , the cost of which in men and money exceeded all expectations, and the alarming social conditions at home, as indicated by the strike at Carmaux . After the fall of Jules Méline 's ministry in 1898 M. Ribot tried in vain to form a cabinet of "conciliation." He was elected, at the end of 1898, president of the important commission on education, in which he advocated
SECTION 60
#17328589868103844-586: Was toppled over opposition objections to President Charles de Gaulle 's effort to have the president popularly elected. At the ensuing 1962 French legislative election , de Gaulle's coalition won an increased majority, and Pompidou was reappointed prime minister. Jean Jaur%C3%A8s Independent Socialists French Socialist Party Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 1859 – 31 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès ( French: [ʒɑ̃ ʒɔʁɛs] ; Occitan : Joan Jaurés [dʒuˈan dʒawˈɾes] ),
#809190