Remaking a Nation
France is considered as one of the most significant
states in the world regarding culture and history. It has also been one of the many
countries that have played a vital role in international affairs. In fact, this
nation provides an economic, linguistic, and geographic link that joins
northern and southern Europe. It is a world's leading industrialized power and
the most significant agricultural producer. Being one of the oldest states in
the world, France made alliances with many different nations such as Dutch in
the middle ages. Despite being such a great nation, there was a time when a lot
was needed to restructure and remake the country.
Image
1: The above photo shows the process of remaking of France.
Source:
Google Images.
In the 17th century, France, under the leadership of
Colbert, was able to start its remaking. Primarily, this was made possible
because Colbert was able to adopt new policies that resonated with the majority
of the citizens. Notably, most of his reforms were mainly liberal. He gave room
for policymakers to make genuine reforms, which were acceptable and had the
interest of the general public (Usher, 2015). The reorganization that took
place in his administration led to the destruction of the old-fashioned
primitive rights and privileges. It is
worth mentioning that during those days, France was beginning to feel the
pressure of competition from other countries such as Holland and England since
they were fast advancing in technology. The new strategies that were adopted under
his leadership helped propel the nation even further ahead of the competing
nations.
Economically, during that era, some changes
constituted a threat to the continued progress of France. The reason for this
was that the country did not exploit clear factor at the time. For instance, it
was a society that did not embrace investment. Families only depended on their
salaries earned from offices. They held too much importance to their salaries
and their continued stay at their places of work. In other words, most of the
citizens held on to their office jobs without any growth just because it gave
them a sense of security. The business world was viewed merely as a means to
gain social security and thus was not expanding fast enough to foster a spirit
of adventure or inspire hope (DeJean, 2005). However, during the remaking
period the government, under the rule of Colbert, encouraged and supported
citizens who were willing to invest in the country genuinely. Since then, till
to date, France has one of the biggest economy in the globe.
The primary factor that France has used to remake
itself is heavily encouraging citizens to invest in businesses and industries
rather than just settling for the secure office jobs. It was a strategy that
opened up peoples mind to broader things such as fashion, manufacturing among
other business creations. For instance, most of the third world nations could
embrace the same factor and encourage more people to be job creators by
establishing private-owned companies, which is a remarkable head start to an
effective remaking. For example, if citizens in Nigeria were encouraged to
create opportunities, it would impact greatly on the county's economy.
However,
a question arises, is encouraging the people to invest in businesses be a sole
way to remake a nation?
Culturally, France has a record of the most elegant
culture in the modern day. It is hard not to notice that the most refined wines
taken during special occasions come from France. In addition to that, most of
the best fashion designers will have their designs having a French label. The
reason for this is that French designs are embraced and accepted more all
around the world. Moreover, many individuals want to learn French as their
second language. Looking at the tourism in the country, most people in the
world aspire to visit France even if ones in a lifetime. Such an occurrence is not a mere coincidence.
It is pushed and encouraged by the fact that the nation is great.
To conclude this discussion, remaking a nation needs
planning. It must be done uplift the living condition of the people and to
propel them to better political, economic, and cultural levels. France, for
example, was remade during the reign of Colbert. Before then, it was a dormant
country that was economically stagnant. Due to competition from countries such
as Holland and England, there was a need to strategically work around their
economy and encourage people to invest more rather than comfortably depending
on salaried jobs. France at that time grew not only economically but also
culturally strong and has continued to be one of the leading states in the
world.
References
DeJean,
J. (2005). The essence of style: How the
French invented high fashion, fine food, chic cafes, style, sophisticated, and
glamour. Free Press: New York.
Usher,
P. (2015). Colbert and government control of industry in seventeenth-century
France. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1927041
