Classical French historiography [fr] usually regards Clovis I (r. 509–511) as the first king of France, however historians today consider that such a kingdom didn't begin until the establishment of West Francia in 843.[1][2] For the purposes of this article, all political systems from Clovis on are considered to be in scope.
The Franks were a group of Romanized Germanic dynasties within the collapsing Western Roman Empire, who eventually commanded the region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. Clovis I established a single kingdom uniting the core Frankish territories, and was crowned King of the Franks in 496. He and his descendants ruled the Merovingian dynasty until 751, when it was replaced by the Carolingians (751-843).
For roughly the next eighty years, there was an alternating series of empires, republics, and a kingdom, until the 1870 establishment of the Third Republic. From that point on, it was republics down to the present day, with the exception of the authoritarian Vichy regime during World War II. The Fifth Republic, established as a semi-presidential system in 1958, remains the political system in France as of now.
^In French, the term système politique has broader scope than the English term, and includes political regime, economic structure, and organization of society).
^"Form of government" : (French: forme de gouvernement) is a synonym of "political system". In French, the meaning differs slightly, and a synonym for forme de gouvernement in French is régime politique.
^The term political regime exists in English, but has taken on negative connations.
^Vote of full powers to Philippe Pétain on July 10, 1940. On July 11, 1940, Pétain became head of the French State (the official name of the Vichy regime) in Vichy. The power given to Pétain to write and promulgate a constitution was never fulfilled.
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