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

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III On the constitutional reform chapter, Sarkozy followed the same path as Napoleon III; he engaged a process of reforming of the constitution to counter the “crisis of representation” he so strongly denounced in his presidential program, before finally backing up. As a matter of fact, and as explained by Lévy and Skach in 2007, Sarkozy “appointed 13 sages to a committee headed by former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and entrusted with undertaking the task of reflecting on the modernization of the Fifth Republic”. After this committee’s presentation of its recommendations, Sarkozy realized that the application of such reforming will endanger his quasi-monopoly of power (since it proposed some amendments relative to the executive branch). Accordingly, this committee was “thanked for its enlightened remarks” (Sarkozy’s speech in date of 15 th December 2008), but the constitutional reform stopped there, with no prospect of being enacted anytime soon, at least under Sarkozy’s presidency. From the latter, Sarkozy and Napoleon III are very resembling in their court-like approach: both preferred short-circuiting their traditional partners (mainly the government, parliament, and senate) and delegated (relatively) their power to a very close circle of collaborators. This mechanism of governance, described by the French Leftist publication Marianne as the “archaic monarchization of the mode of governance” (2010), ends up with a problematic democratic deficit; obvious for Napoleon III, yet more insidious for Sarkozy. As stated by Derbyshire, “the appointments of Le Douaron and Lambert show the importance that Sarkozy attaches to having advisers and collaborators who "owe him everything", and in whom he places the kind of trust he rarely, if ever, shows to his ministers; in this arrangement, the adviser plays courtier to Sarkozy's prince” (2010). As a matter of fact, Eric Le Douaron and Christian Lambert are both former high police officers (the first for instance was the chief of the RAID unit of intervention) A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 24
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III to key positions within the territorial administration. The French tradition in this regard explicitly imposed the appointment of civilians to counter-balance the power of the police. Records proved that Sarkozy was personally in touch with them since he was Minister of the Interior. This patronage’s derive endangers the republican character of Sarkozy’s overall policy: in a court-like configuration, voices opposing the supreme “prince” decisions are silenced by a Damocles sword since the person who hired is also the one likely to fire. Such a situation applies to almost all of Sarkozy’s appointments, and especially those dealing with his presidential team of advisors. The Elysée team is by this way growingly occulting the space normally reserved to Ministers: at more than one occasion, Sarkozy’s collaborators contradicted openly some ministers in issues that were of their exclusive domain of competency. Another graver yet revealing event that happened last year revealed to the public what could lead to think to a dynastic aspiration of the Sarkozy family, as a natural extension of the above mentioned court-like approach. In fact, the official announcement of the very son of Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean, of his will of leading the EPAD launched an over-mediated wave of indignation not only within France but also from foreign observers. As a matter of fact, the EPAD – L’Etablissement Public pour l’Aménagement de la région de la Défense- is the public administration in charge of managing the first business platform in Europe: the Defense. Jean Sarkozy being degree-less (at that time he had validated only two semesters of Law studies), such an appointment to a billion-managing institution was scandalous to the extent that the presidency had to present officially its “excuses for the inconsideration of this decision” after an initial official support of Sarkozy and his political front that lasted two weeks. The international A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 25
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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...

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