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

Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
At this point, it is worth mentioning that both of the Emperor and the president’s
communication strategies showed some limits which proved that they similarly failed in putting
under their monitoring grasp the sector. For instance, Napoleon III’s most bitter failure in that
domain, and as reported by Regnault, occurred in 1868. In few words, one of the emperor
relatives, a mysterious Pierre Bonaparte, killed two journalists (Victor Noir and Bernard
Fonvielle). The imperial coat smoothed the affair for weeks; nothing filtered in the press, until
the clandestine La Lanterne published it and engendered “a never-seen before hostile
movement against the ruling dynasty around Victor Noir’s coffin” (Regnault, 1907). The same
applies for Sarkozy. The resisting bastions of independent press (Le Monde, Médiapart)
successively revealed very embarrassing affairs for the president, among which the
Clearstream’s affair and more recently the Bettencourt one (already labeled as Sarkozy’s
“Woerthgate”). Consequently, a wind of change blew over France’s editorial offices; this
scratched image is by this way one reason –among many others- behind Sarkozy’s record in
terms of satisfaction rating (only of 29% according to the latest IFOP opinion poll in date of
October 24 th 2010).
III. Beyond Bonapartism: Sarkozy’s own contribution in shaping a new political communication
in France:
The introductory comments of that chapter, the limiting factors of a Sarkozy/Napoleon
III comparative overview in terms of political communication for instance, make sense in the
comprehensive evaluation of the 21 st French president public relations style. Being a pure
product of the TV generation, Sarkozy adapted his political communication to the novelties
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/
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