Sarkozysm

Ideology

Nicolas Sarkozy's platform for the 2007 presidential election was the fruit of at least five years of work by over 250 intellectuals and experts under the auspices of Emmanuelle Mignon, who is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of Sarkozysm.

Although Sarkozy declared himself to be above existing theories and political ideologies, he nevertheless associated his ideology and political agenda with the Gaullist tradition of Charles de Gaulle and the former Rally for the Republic (RPR). However, Sarkozy envisioned his agenda as representing a clear break with the policies and orientations of his predecessor and political nemesis, President Jacques Chirac. Indeed, Sarkozysm sees itself as a rupture (break) with Chirac's leadership of the right and has denounced the alleged "immobilism" of Chirac's presidency.

Some observers like liberal economist Jacques Marseille or journalist Alain Duhamel have considered Sarkozysm to be a mix of modern Bonapartism and pragmatism.

According to Pierre Giacometti, the core values of Sarkozysm are: a certain work ethic (valeur travail), the nation-state and voluntarism with a dose of personality cult.

Former MEP Jean-Louis Bourlanges described Sarkozy's ideology as a mix of economic liberalism and Jacobinism, although this did not preclude Sarkozy, as President in November 2008, to bail out troubled banks or create a sovereign fund of 20 billion euros to finance the development of businesses who could not finance themselves through the traditional banking system.

French philosopher Pierre Musso, in his book Le Sarkoberlusconisme, claims that Sarkozysm is comparable to the policies of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy: a political 'break' with the methods of the past, a common emphasis on a certain work ethic, economic liberalism with a dose of dirigisme (or Colbertism), and a pro-American foreign policy.

A relatively unique specificity of Sarkozysm, in its earlier years, was a so-called policy of ouverture, whereby Sarkozy actively recruited certain supporters or members of the centre-left Socialist Party (PS) to his government. Left-wing personalities including Bernard Kouchner, Éric Besson, Fadela Amara, Frédéric Mitterrand, Jean-Marie Bockel, Jean-Pierre Jouyet or Martin Hirsch all served as ministers in Sarkozy's governments.

Style and form

Sarkozysm and Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency is also marked by a major change in political "style" and rhetoric.

Sarkozy was considered as a celebrity president during the first year of his term, and his opponents have often criticized his superficial attitudes and "bling bling" style. His close friendship with major businessmen and corporate CEOs (Arnaud Lagardère, Vincent Bolloré, Bernard Arnault) or prominent celebrities (Jean-Marie Bigard, Johnny Hallyday, Christian Clavier) have also been a source of unease with some.

Whereas former French Presidents tended to grant more autonomy and leeway to their Prime Ministers, Sarkozy's presidency was marked by a centralization of powers in the presidency and his style was branded by the press as "hyper-presidentialism".