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

Introduction
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
“We need to break up with Victor Hugo’s tradition, and like Philippe Séguin, we should
rehabilitate Napoleon III’s memoire, substituting to the caricatured character described by
Badinguet the vision of a modern Emperor who was careful about the highness of France”
Bernard Accoyer, president of the French National Assembly
Philippe Séguin’s funeral homage, 12 th January 2010, Paris.
“If we want to restore hope to the French people, great changes are essential”: these
were the first words of the candidate Sarkozy after the official announcement of his winning of
the French presidential election, the 6 th of May 2007. As a matter of fact, the up-to-now years
of his presidency were effectively rich in “changes”, to the extent that the substantial wind of
reforms and restructuring that blew over France was quickly summarized into a nickname that
follows Sarkozy until nowadays: the “hyper-president” (a nickname comprising other aspects of
his governance’s style, such as his extreme activism and his omnipresence in the media).
Observers of French politics, political analysts, and even journalists and editorialists tried thus
to define the Sarkozysme in many successive attempts that found their roots either in French
history or in contemporary (and supposedly) inspiring political leaderships. Many comparative
paths were followed either within Europe (UK, and Italy principally) or overseas (mainly the US).
Sarkozy was then designated as the French Tony Blair, following his own saying in the news
broadcast of France 2 the 27 th of June 2007: “I did my Tony Blair”, and this latter’s appraisals,
and mainly his flattering article published in The Time: “Sarkozy, person of the year 2008” (Blair,
2008). Another European comparative trend emerged as well, launched by the French thinker’s
– Pierre Mussot - book “The Sarkoberlusconism” (2008), and labeled by the latest editorial of
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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