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

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III more international crises management and diplomatic activism, to be capitalized afterwards in the domestic scene in terms of improved popular ratings. Finally, the perspective of the 2012’s presidential elections, and the emergence of a powerful challenger in the person of the IMF’s boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose ratings are sky-high in France since his involvement in the handling of the financial crises, is another powerful indicator of the persistence (not to say the escalation) of Sarkozy’s globe-trotting and the whirlwind statements and proposal that accompany it (considering the fact that even if he still refused to admit so publicly, Sarkozy is likely to race for a second presidential mandate in 2012). However, Sarkozy’s zeal again badly-serves his enterprise: as usual, by trying to exploit his model to the fullest, he lapsed into exactly the opposite scenario of what was initially expected. The Sarkozist adventure in Africa is a startling example of such a state of affairs. Dakar, 26 th July 2007: in his official state-visit speech, Sarkozy declared “the African peasant has known only the eternal renewal of time via the endless repetition of the same actions and the same words; in this mentality, where everything always starts over again, there is no place for human adventure nor for any idea of progress” (Ankomah, 2007). Neocolonialism, racism: the humiliated African continent stood up united in front of Sarkozy’s insulting speech. Henri Guaino, one of Sarkozy’s speechwriter, “in his reply to the critiques, asks where the scandal is: why can Aimé Césaire speak of ‘homme noir’ while Sarkozy cannot speak of ‘homme africain’?” highlighting that “the main ‘material’ message of this discourse is that African states should keep their young people at home and prevent them from trying to emigrate to Europe” (Profant, 2010). Again, and via continuously pushing for theatrical rhetoric and formulations wrapped up in his alleged openness, Sarkozy turns out caricaturing his enterprises thus his leadership. A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 94
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III II. A double-level standard: Humanist discourses versus Realpolitik moves: The final common feature of Napoleon III’s and Sarkozy’s appreciation of foreign policy is their juggling between a humanist-inspired official discourse and their application of Realpolitik-based moves in the international relations field. Milza explained in 2008 that the emperor had a very modern discourse vis a vis the Algerian population (in the mid 19 th century such a standpoint was resolutely avant-gardist from a Right- wing affiliated emperor) and constantly extolled the virtues of the population’s self- determination principle, especially for Italy and Poland. However, he did send a military expedition to Mexico and launched several wars contradicting his very statements. For instance, and in his Dictionnaire Politique Napoleonien, D’Alembert cites the imperial saying on the abolition of slavery according to which “if abolition of slavery was conducted by governments wanting sincerely the good of humanity, that is to say the prosperity of the black and white races, they would had gradually made their slaves move from forced to free labor” (1849). Nicolas Sarkozy as well started his presidential mandate with “a credo in favor of human rights, before evolving later on” (Milza, 2008). As explained before, he vehemently and more than once publicly denounced the Russian and Chinese human rights violations before adjusting his position to the incorporation of Realpolitiks in his foreign policy approach. At this point, Realpolitik is to be understood according to Henry Kissinger’s definition presented in his Diplomacy book, and according to which it refers to any “foreign policy based on considerations of power and national interest” (1996). Accordingly, it is not a coincidence if the American diplomat traces the origins of Realpolitik to one of Napoleon III’s contemporaries: Klemens von A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 95
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