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

Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
Another noticeable feature of the foreign policy, Bonapartist style, is its reliance upon hyper-
activism and the preaching of the big conferences culture. At this level, a kind of parallelism can
be established with its reliance upon popular plebiscite at the domestic level: it is as if, in its
desire to manage the collective sake, Bonapartism needs a kind of legitimacy brought by its
fellow foreign leaders vis a vis its foreign undertakings. However, such an approach is not
contradictory with the unilateral decision-making approach, especially when the domestic
interests are in contradiction with what the multilateral actors seems to prefer.
Napoleon III for instance advocated for decades his fondness for multilateral solutions to
diplomatic crises, especially the ones involving, in a way or another, his European neighbors. As
explained by Echard, “from 1849 to 1963, he repeatedly urged the assembling of a general
congress: during the same period, he responded to every European crisis with at least a
willingness to seek solutions at the conference table” (1966). It was notably the case for the
Paris conference of November 1852 that settled the Franco-Russo fight over Constantinople (in
Paris’ favor), another Paris meeting in August 1858 where a convention dismantling the 1815’s
treaties was signed by a European Congress, or the 1866’s conference organized conjointly with
Otto Von Bismarck to reach an agreement on the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen candidacy for the
Spanish throne. In parallel, and as outlined by Gildea, the emperor pursued an active policy of
mediation between disputed countries; like when he “mediated between Prussia and Austria,
taking Venetia from Austria to bestow on the humiliated Italians, and hoping for some
compensation for France in the future” (2003). Finally, unilateral foreign policy decisions were
also taken by Louis Napoleon; it is interesting at this regard to cite the imperial settling of the
Italian question without any form of consultation with Italy. Gildea explains that this
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