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Barely were the Italian Wars over than France was plunged into a domestic crisis with far-reaching consequences. Despite the conclusion of a Concordat between France and the Papacy (1516), granting the crown unrivalled power in senior ecclesiastical appointments, France was deeply affected by the Protestant Reformation's attempt to break the unity of Roman Catholic Europe.

Legislation passed in 1998 shortened the legal workweek from 39 to 35 hours effective January 1, 2000. A key objective of the legislation is to encourage job creation, for which significant new subsidies will be made available. It is difficult to assess the impact of workweek reduction on growth and jobs since many of the key economic parameters, such as the impact on labour costs and company's ability to reorganize work schedules, will depend on the outcome of labour-management negotiations which should extend through 2000 and beyond. See 35-hour workweek.

During the latter years of the elderly Charlemagne's rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of his kingdom. After Charlemagne's death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining any kind of political unity and the once great Empire began to crumble. Viking advances were allowed to escalate, their dreaded longboats sailing up the Loire and Seine Rivers and other inland waterways, wreaking havoc and spreading terror. In 843 the Viking invaders murdered the Bishop of Nantes and a few years after that, they burned the Church of Saint-Martin at Tours. Emboldened by their successes, in 845 the Vikings ransacked Paris. Charles the Simple (898-922), whose territory comprised much of the France of today, was forced during his reign to concede to the Vikings a large area on either side of the Seine River, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy.

Dirigisme came to be highly contested in the 1980s, with complaints of bureaucracy and lack of reactivity to new challenges. As a result the government largely retreated from economic intervention; Dirigisme has now essentially receded. Despite significant reform and privatization over the past 15 years, the government continues to control a large share of economic activity: Government spending, at 53% of GDP in 2000, is the highest in the G-7. Labour conditions and wages are highly regulated. The government continues to own shares in corporations in a range of sectors, including banking, energy production and distribution, automobiles, transportation, and telecommunications.

The official language spoken in France is French. Several regional languages (including Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Dutch (Flemish), Alsatian, Occitan and Oïl languages) are also occasionally understood and spoken, mostly by elderly people, but the French government and public school system discouraged the use of any of them until recently. The regional languages are now taught at some schools, though French remains the only official language in use by the government, local or national.

The French Republic or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.

Settled mainly by the Gauls and related Celtic peoples (apart from a shrinking area of Basque population in the south-west and Ligurian population on the southern coast), the area of modern France comprised the bulk of the region of Gaul (Latin Gallia) under Roman rule from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD.

France is a unitary state. However, the various legal subdivisions, the régions, départements and communes, have various attributions, and the national government is prohibited from intruding into their legal normal operations.

The Parliament of France consists in two houses: the National Assembly and the Senate; the Assembly is the pre-eminent body. The National Assembly is the principal legislative body. Its 577 deputies are directly elected for 5-year terms in local majority votes, and all seats are voted on in each election.

It has long been customary for members of parliaments to have, in addition to their mandate as deputy or senator, some local mandate, such as mayor of a city; thus, the phrases "deputy-mayor" (député-maire) and "senator-mayor" (sénateur-maire). This is known as the cumul of electoral mandates. Proponents of the cumul allege that having local responsibilities ensures that members of parliament stay in contact with the reality of their consistuency; also, they are said to be able to defend the interest of their city etc. better by having a seat in parliament.

Citizens from all parts of France, including overseas possessions, vote in national elections (presidential, legislative) and are represented to the Senate. Contrary to other countries such as the United States, there is not a two-tiered system whereby some parts of the territory have the right to vote in national elections, and some do not.