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

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III majority of voters in both chambers). Sarkozy 2010’s stand firm against the social protests resembles the 2009’s one dealing with the universities reforming. As a matter of fact, on the 22 nd of January 2009, Sarkozy unveiled his reforming program of the French universities during his speech related to “the launching of the reflection on a National Strategy of Research and Innovation”. As explained by Clift, the president’s main arguments were the expansion of the number “of competitiveness poles, and also expanded the research tax credit (credit impot recherché CIR) increasing from 10 to 30 % the state’s reimbursement of a firm research expenses on research” (2009), but also the promotion of financial autonomy, Anglo-Saxon way, of the institutions of higher institutions and what it implies in terms of state disengagement in that domain (thus the opening of education to the private funds). Evans for his part underlined the president’s saying during this speech that “the present top-down framework as' infantilising and paralysing'” (2009). This shifting from the French tradition according to which education is a public service to be backed up by the state to maintain an equal access, accordingly far from the Anglo-Saxon universities’ competitiveness which ends up in high tuition fees was simply revolutionary. Such a privatization was in view of that strongly opposed and resisted, but again and following the Bonapartist authoritarian liberalism’s principle, the law was forcefully adopted. To close this chapter, Sarkozy already unveiled the next domain he intends to reform starting from June 2011: the health sector. His declaration did not bring any additional information, yet one might guess that it will follow the education reform’s path (that is the liberalization of the sector and its opening to the private funds). A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 48
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III II. The closeness vis a vis the business milieu and a magnanimous relation to money Being in a proper court-configuration, Napoleon III gathered around him the most powerful economic players of his time, and mainly “ennobled bankers, coming from the “affaires milieu” controlled by the advantages its members await from the ruler” (2008) as explained by one of the emperor’s posthumous biographers, Pierre Milza. He continued underlying the « indisputable analogy with the friendships of Nicolas Sarkozy in the business world”. In a populist arrangement, the mixing of the rapprochement with the lowest social classes and the highest strata of the business milieu can seem antagonist, if not from a Bonapartist approach. Both the emperor and the president strategically needed to gather popular classes to their camp since they intrinsically believe in the popular plebiscite to access to and be maintained at power. However, the latter does not in fine contradict the display of personal ties with the business owners who are strongly attached to conservatism. As put by Lévy, Sarkozy “seems to be vacillating between a genuine effort to modernize France and electorally motivated pay-offs to conservative constituents” (2008). At this point, the previously highlighted lack of consistency of Sarkozy’s economic policy appears for McNicoll as another motive behind such a phenomena, since “the French president has a habit of putting the economy at the mercy of his personal political imperatives: at heart, the problem is that he has no true economic principles, that the only key to Sarkonomics is expediency” (2009). As a matter of fact, no republican law forbids any president from having a tight circle of friends within the affaires milieu; yet such a state of affairs becomes embarrassing when there is an overlap or conflict of interests, or when flagrant and glaring examples reveal “clubbish links” (The Economist, 2010) between the Elysee, and certain business and media bosses. In fact, an A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 49
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