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Sarkozysm (Sarkozysme) is the name commonly given to the policies and political agenda of formerFrench PresidentNicolas Sarkozy, including hispresidential policies between 2007 and 2012. It can also refer to the supporters of Nicolas Sarkozy within the centre-rightLes Republicains (LR).
Nicolas Sarkozy's platform for the2007 presidential election was the fruit of at least five years of work by over 250 intellectuals and experts[1] under the auspices ofEmmanuelle Mignon, who is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of Sarkozysm.[2]
Although Sarkozy declared himself to be above existingtheories andpolitical ideologies, he nevertheless associated his ideology and political agenda with theGaullist tradition ofCharles de Gaulle and the formerRally for the Republic (RPR).[3] However, Sarkozy envisioned his agenda as representing a clear break with the policies and orientations of his predecessor and political nemesis,PresidentJacques Chirac. Indeed, Sarkozysm sees itself as arupture (break) with Chirac's leadership of the right and has denounced the alleged "immobilism" of Chirac's presidency.[4]
Some observers like liberal economist Jacques Marseille or journalistAlain Duhamel have considered Sarkozysm to be a mix of modernBonapartism and pragmatism.[5]
According to Pierre Giacometti, the core values of Sarkozysm are: a certainwork ethic (valeur travail), thenation-state andvoluntarism with a dose ofpersonality cult.[5]
FormerMEPJean-Louis Bourlanges described Sarkozy's ideology as a mix ofeconomic liberalism andJacobinism,[5] 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 bookLe Sarkoberlusconisme, claims that Sarkozysm is comparable to the policies ofSilvio Berlusconi in Italy: a political 'break' with the methods of the past, a common emphasis on a certainwork ethic,economic liberalism with a dose ofdirigisme (orColbertism), and a pro-American foreign policy.
A relatively unique specificity of Sarkozysm, in its earlier years, was a so-called policy ofouverture, whereby Sarkozy actively recruited certain supporters or members of the centre-leftSocialist Party (PS) to his government. Left-wing personalities includingBernard Kouchner,Éric Besson,Fadela Amara,Frédéric Mitterrand,Jean-Marie Bockel,Jean-Pierre Jouyet orMartin Hirsch all served as ministers in Sarkozy's governments.
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.[6] 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 theirPrime 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".[7]
Nicolas Sarkozy lost reelection toFrançois Hollande on 6 May 2012, but within Sarkozy's party (the UMP), polls and theNovember 2012 UMP congress showed that activists and members of the UMP have remained strongly attached towards Nicolas Sarkozy and Sarkozysm. Both candidates for the presidency of the UMP in November 2012 – Sarkozy'sPrime MinisterFrançois Fillon and UMP secretary-generalJean-François Copé have officially claimed loyalty to the Sarkozyst 'ideals'. Since 2017, Nicolas Sarkozy has again become the most appreciated right-wing politician of the French.
Sarkozysm and 'Sarkozysts' have also been used to denote Sarkozy's supporters and allies within the UMP, particularly during the period where he sought to take control the UMP (between 2002 and 2004) and until his election to the presidency in 2007.
Sarkozy's core group of supporters largely came from theballadurianliberal conservative faction of the formerRally for the Republic (RPR), a group ofpro-European,fiscal conservatives andliberals who had supported Prime MinisterÉdouard Balladur's candidacy in the1995 presidential election against that of RPR leaderJacques Chirac. Sarkozy, the budget minister in Balladur's government (1993–1995) and his campaign spokesperson, was one of the main leaders of the balladurian faction of the RPR and gradually took its leadership after 1997. Original members of this faction of the RPR included the liberalPatrick Devedjian (unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the RPR in 1999),Dominique Perben,Michel Barnier,Michel Giraud,Patrick Balkany,Brice Hortefeux,Christian Estrosi,Bernard Accoyer andThierry Mariani.François Fillon, a former ally ofPhilippe Séguin and longtime opponent Chirac's leadership of the RPR, became a Sarkozyst in around 2003–2004.
The distinctions between Sarkozysts and non-Sarkozysts within the UMP were blurred after Sarkozy's accession to the presidency of the UMP in 2004 and later to the French presidency in 2007. Several politicians previously identified as allies ofJacques Chirac, such asJean-François Copé, reemerged as Sarkozysts during this period. Several younger politicians in the UMP, such asNadine Morano and todayGuillaume Peltier have identified themselves as loyal Sarkozysts.
Peltier's motion in theNovember 2012 UMP congress,The Strong Right won the most votes of any other motion with 27.77%.
