Cultural Differences Between France and Middle-East (Maghreb)

Western European culture (France) Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and in the world. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia. After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the absolute monarchy was abolished and France became a constitutional monarchy. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France established fundamental rights for French citizens and all men without exception. The Declaration affirms â€Å"the natural and imprescriptible rights of man† to â€Å"liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression†. Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed. Government The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. Demographics With an estimated population of 65. 8  million people (as of 1 Jan. 2011), France is the 20th most populous country in the world. In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe. In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey. It is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958.. While official data on the size of the country's ethnic minorities is not available, it has been estimated that between three million and six million people are of North African ancestry while an estimated 2.   million people are of Black African ancestry. It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received. Between 1921 and 1935 about 1. 1  million net immigrants came to France. Religion Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practiced today as it once was. According to a Ja nuary 2007 poll by the Catholic World News – 51% identified s being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists 10% identified as being from other religions or being without opinion, 4% identified as Muslim, 3% identified as Protestant, 1% identified as Buddhist, 1% identified as Jewish. So we could see that France is one of the most multinational and multicultural countries in Europe. The main motivation for the law seems to be Sarkozy’s desire to do something to improve his dismal approval ratings. By appearing tough on Muslims he, perhaps, can counter the growing appeal of the right. His military adventures in Libya also seem calculated to that end. Obviously enough, this reason hardly justifies the law. Middle Eastern culture (Maghreb from Arabic – ‘West’) Actually in our case we will talk mostly about the region of Northwest Africa called Maghreb (also Maghrib). It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Because of Sahara desert contact between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa is limited. That’s why the biggest influence was coming from Middle Eastern cultures. The Arabs reached Maghreb in 7th century and brought their own religion Islam and Arabic language. After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by France, Spain and later Italy. In 1950th and beginning of 1960th all five countries became independent with their own government and low which is similar to French system board. Today more than two and a half million Maghrebi immigrants live in France, especially from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, there are 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (in 1999) (with at least one grand-parent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia) Family is extremely important in Asian cultures with much importance being placed on the elderly members of the family. The elderly are much revered in Asian society and it needs to be said that we don't show the same respect to the elderly in Western culture. Approximately 5 -10% of the adult population in North Africa is illiterate. In the majority of Asian countries the social infrastructure is set in a class system and it really is the poor versus the wealthy with little opportunity to rise above poverty line certain Asian countries the name given to you at birth depicts where you are placed as a person in the scheme of things. Money tends to bypass he general populace in regards to support systems, such as improving hospitals, availability of fresh water, and implementing crisis agencies or whatever is required to enable people to seek shelter in times of need. All these things are high on the list of priorities and available in most Western cultures. We also take advantage of the fact that due to the rate of cheap labor in Asian countries it is more economical for Western businesses to manufactu re goods offshore, so their profit margins are increased. Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are all republican democracies, meaning they are governed by elected legislative bodies. Both Algeria and Egypt have bicameral legislatures while Tunisia is unicameral. Libya is a unique government in the region for two reasons. First, in theory, it is a socialist democracy in which people govern themselves through local political councils. Second, though these councils do exist and function, in reality the nation is governed by a military dictatorship which hasn’t changed since it took over in 1969 when cornel Muammar Quadhafi took power in a military coup. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with bicameral parlament.