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

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III considered such a standpoint as a defy to the French tradition of secularism, “one of the most prized traditions of The Republic (regarding the) strict legal and cultural sanction against bringing matters of church and faith into the public realm” (Marquand, 2008). The warning lights started the 12 th of September 2008 with the Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the Hexagon. The first breaking of the French presidential protocol occurred when Sarkozy, along with his wife Carla Bruni, welcomed the Pope personally at the airport. The “sacrilege” continued at the College of Bernardins where Sarkozy underlined, as cited by Englund “the importance of “the religious fact,” observing that “it is legitimate for a democracy and is respectful of laïcité for the dialogue to continue with the religions, and notably with the Christian religion, with which we have shared such a long history. Not to do so would be folly, would be a sin [faute] against culture and thought” (2008). By this way, even the use of a religious wording – “sin”- is interesting to highlight (and even more while mixed to notions like culture and thought). To this unexpected declaration emanating by one of the most secular country in Europe, the Pope called for “a new reflection on the true meaning and importance of laïcité”—a reflection that would usher in “new ways of interpreting and living daily life” (2008). In a country marked by a profound detachment vis a vis religion, Sarkozy’s religious preaching is puzzling regarding the French sacralization of their secular system. At this regard, the order’s card is not convincing by its own. Other motivations, such as the need of continuing his political breach into Le Pen electorate (widely known for their religious ultra-conservatism) or even the desire to bring in the religious within the current national debate of identity he is so attached do, seem to explain Sarkozy’s political religiosity. A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 30
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III On the other hand, the second collaborator both of the Emperor and the President relied on was either the army or the police. Napoleon III’s early enlistment in the Swiss Army where he was even granted the position of Captain in 1834 and his everlasting fascination toward his Imperial uncle’s military’s conquests brought about his reliance on the armed forces during his entire political career. Precisely because of his Uncle’s Grande Armée prestige, he was solidly supported by the Army which never failed in accomplishing the various missions Napoleon III entrusted it with; even if in 1850 it consisted in the massive killings of opponents. More broadly, the Army was a strategic pawn over which the Emperor built a strong and aggressive foreign policy as we shall see later on. Two centuries later, Sarkozy pursues the Bonapartist path yet with a marked preference for the domain in which he gained his first political battles as Minister of the Interior: the Police. At this regard, Sarkozy’s reliance on the police as a coercive tool of regulation of the public order started not as his presidency, but more than eight years ago. Numerous law proposals were enacted under his lead, and again since he was minister of the Interior. He made of security management a personal “credo” where words like “karcher” or “racaille” became his marque de fabrique. His very attachment to the prefectoral organization, a state of affairs reinforced even further by his Grenoble’s Speech more recently, brings in a Bonapartist whiff. This latter is a “very 18th-century concept, since the prefectoral corps was created in 1800 by Napoleon Bonaparte, after the coup of the 18 Brumaire the previous year” (Derbyshire, 2010). Accordingly, this muscular partner and assistant of Sarkozy’s political leadership serviced one of the key concepts of his political philosophy: security. A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 31
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