Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III mainly the Muslim community (via the creation of the CFCM: French Council of the Muslim Cult) as detailed by Baillet (2007). From the latter, it seems difficult (not to say impossible) to find a populist ground between such different stakeholders. Neither Napoleon III nor Sarkozy had to create such a conciliatory approach: it was France itself who undertook it. As a matter of fact, France in both cases dreamed of escaping a “fatal period: Terror and Directory for the 19 th century France, and threats of the economic globalization and exasperation of the social tensions for the 21 st century one: with a two-centuries interval, the stake is to know how and with whom to face a world that seems menacing” (Duhamel, 2009). France in both cases is thorn by its internal divisions, and is consequently eager to the lead of an authoritarian leader whose guidance is likely to erase decades of disenchantments and political disappointments. The France Sarkozy inherited from the successive double mandates of both Mitterand and Chirac was in need of big changes at the governance level: it awaited a “president personifying a youthful and winning authority, an unpredictable head of state, with strengths and weaknesses, but still a lively, unusual, and bold charismatic president” (Duhamel, 2009). From this perspective, the Bonapartist winning recipe requires the answering to such expectations via ambitious political discourses emphasizing even further the societal malaise. As rightly predicted by Grant few weeks before the presidential race of 2007: “if the French choose Sarkozy, they will be acknowledging that France is in a hell of a mess, and that they need an unusual sort of leader - in this case, a populist with a bit of a Napoleon complex (like the Corsican, he is a hyper-active, rather authoritarian, diminutive outsider) - to sort it out” (2007). A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 18
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III The consequent redundancy of themes like change, reforming (cf the French wording “rupture” being the most pronounced by the candidate Sarkozy as stated by the INSEE) brings a conquest-like character to the Bonapartist approach of seduction of the electorate. The leader emphasizes his abilities of being the one through whom the change will occur; Louis Napoleon constantly referred to his uncle’s performances in that domain in an identification-approach which excluded all his opponents since he was the sole of Bonapartist descent, while Sarkozy argued with his lawyer rhetoric that he was personifying the “rupture” none of his opponents had the courage of examining or carrying upon. His electoral speeches were thus significantly sprinkled with personal commitment phrasings like “I commit myself personally (….)”. By this way, and as legitimately observed by Bickerton, “If Barack Obama’s slogan has been “yes, we can”, Sarkozy’s is simply “yes, I can” (2009). This glorification of a strong leadership able to carry on its own shoulders all the burdens of a country was for both Napoleon III and Sarkozy a powerful consensual leitmotiv in dragging the masses toward the ideal of a national dream coming true. It is worth mentioning their respective standpoints regarding the collective dream myth. In fact, Louis Napoleon’s declaration “you lead the people only by showing them a future: a leader is a hope and dream merchant”, echoes strangely with Sarkozy’s “do not be afraid of having big dreams” in his concluding statement addressed to the French at the end of the presidential debate with Segolene Royal one week before the second round of the presidential election. At this point, the clearly Bonapartist-inspired populism of Sarkozy was more developed than Louis Napoleon’s. The French philosopher Alain Badiou develops even further the reverberation of Sarkozy’s political governance. As a matter of fact, Badiou identifies what he called a revival A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 19
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