Nicolas Sarkozy et le Gaullisme

The election of President Sarkozy has often been presented as a rupture of the French Right with Gaullism, a new blend of neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism. The newly elected president was barely able to hide his sympathy with this interpretation. However, since his presidential campaign, Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly claimed a Gaullist legacy, using its symbols and drawing on its rhetoric. Sarkozy's political career, moreover, was entirely built up within the Gaullist party, and he proclaimed his affiliation with Gaullisy ideas. Therefore, in order to study and understand Nicolas Sarkozy it is essential to revisit his complex relationship with Gaullism. Likewise, Sarkozyism also has to be included in any analysis of the many contemporary forms of the Gaullist phenomenon.