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

Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
Sarkozy as well intervened heavily in the French business world. Matlack anticipated such a
policy since the very next day of his election, reporting that “the market was rife with rumors
reflecting expectations that Sarkozy may exercise a dirigiste industrial policy” (2007). As a
matter of state, the pre-Sarkozy trend of the French rulers in that matter was rather a gradual
detachment from the state-owned firms, pushing them into a market-oriented approach to
increase their productivity. A noticeable example at this regard was the France Telecom case in
the late 2000s. As explained by an investment banker in Paris, and reported by The Economist,
"the tide was going in one direction for years, even the socialists privatized, we had less political
interference and more financial savvy, but now we're stepping backwards" (2010). The trend is
being reversed, yet new patterns of state involvement in private businesses appeared. As
explained by the article cited above, “phone calls from the Elysée are becoming a frequent
feature of French business”. It was notably the case for Vivendi which was lectured by the
Elysee for not consulting it concerning its desire to acquire the Brazilian media company GVT, or
Eutelsat’s boss who received a phone harangue from one of Sarkozy’s advisers for preferring a
Chinese satellite to of one of the French Arianespace’s. However, it is worth mentioning at this
regard that Sarkozy’s protectionism is not limited to the French territory, but is rather rooted in
the European economic frame. At this point, his vision oversteps classical Bonapartism and
enlarges the economic vital space of France to Europe. As explained by Clift, “recalling earlier
ambitions to reinvent dirigisme on a European scale, Sarkozy is also a proponent of EU-level,
neo-mercantilist trade and industrial policies, what he calls a “real” European industrial policy”
(2008). The president is accordingly shaping a Neo-Bonapartist approach to industrial policy,
enlarging it to regional groupings such as the European Union, and openly claiming
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/
44