Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
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<strong>Neo</strong>-<strong>Bonapartism</strong>? A <strong>parallel</strong> <strong>between</strong> <strong>Nicolas</strong> <strong>Sarkozy</strong> <strong>and</strong> Napoleon III<br />
reasonable anxieties about law <strong>and</strong> order did not legitimate "exaggerated responses barely<br />
compatible with our fundamental values", while De Villepin denounced <strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s distinction<br />
“<strong>between</strong> "French citizens" <strong>and</strong> "citizens of foreign origin" is an offense against "the republic<br />
<strong>and</strong> against France" (2010). From this perspective, the very idea of engaging a national identity<br />
debate aiming at defining the Frenchness or Frenchlessness, <strong>and</strong> thus creating a first <strong>and</strong> a<br />
second-class citizenship (The French de souche, <strong>and</strong> the French via naturalization) is in fact the<br />
recycling of what the Extreme Right in general, <strong>and</strong> Le Pen in particular, declared more than<br />
four decades ago.<br />
On immigration, the French debate <strong>between</strong> assimilation <strong>and</strong> integration is a “long-running<br />
dispute that dates back to the French Revolution” as pointed out by Derbyshire (2010). Again,<br />
<strong>Sarkozy</strong> put an end to the French status quo on the question (based on moderated immigration<br />
policies until now). Marthaler traced back <strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s early activism on that question to the Law<br />
2003-1119 of 26 th November 2003 whose objectives were “to restrict illegal immigration, fixing<br />
a target of 25,000 deportations in 2006 (compared with 10,000 in 2002) <strong>and</strong> to reduce the<br />
number of asylum-seekers” (2008). The refrain of an “immigration choisie et non subie” serviced<br />
<strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s argument according to which these measures aimed at improving the integration of<br />
the foreigners already settled in the Hexagon. The discourse on immigration will follow a<br />
gradual radicalization, starting from <strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s saying in 2006 “If there are people who are not<br />
comfortable in France, they should feel free to leave a country which they do not love” to this<br />
except of the last July Grenoble Speech: "French nationality should be stripped from anybody<br />
who has threatened the life of a police officer or anybody involved in public policing". In the<br />
overall context of the Roms’ deportations this summer, the politics of <strong>Sarkozy</strong> could be<br />
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/<br />
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