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全球化 SYMPOSIUM globalization, americanization and sarkozy’s france sophie meuniera aWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Robertson 437, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA doi:10.1057/eps.2010.2 Abstract Globalization and Americanization have often been intertwined and inter- changed in the French political discourse. This article explores whether and how the election of Sarkozy, and then of Obama, are transforming this equation. The French obsession with globalization and Americanization was temporarily appeased at the time of the 2007 election, which enabled Sarkozy to come to power. Yet the French rapprochement with the US, at least on economic issues, is not so clear as has often been portrayed. However, the past couple of years have shown that globalization no longer equals Americanization. This should help mitigate the strains put on the Franco-American relationship by the world financial crisis. Keywords americanization; France; globalization; sarkozy When Nicolas Sarkozy became president of France in May 2007, many commentators in the Anglo-Saxon world rejoiced that the French had finally elected an overtly pro- business, pro-globalization, pro-Ameri- can politician.1 This assessment was too simplistic and too optimistic. Sarkozy’s first two years in office, punctuated by France’s presidency of the European Union (EU) and the worldwide financial and economic meltdown, have shown a more complex picture and a French pre- sident as eager as his predecessors to denounce the ravages of Anglo-Saxon capitalism and lay blame on the US. To be sure, Franco-American relations look blissful now, and it seems that the name-calling and the differences over Iraq happened in a different century. American politicians, including the 2008 presidential candidates, can go to France without fear of political retribution at home. In France, Sarkozy has not been punished politically for his American vacation in August 2007, his speech to the US Congress in November 2007, nor his meetings with John McCain and Barack Obama during the American pre- sidential campaign. These actions have been less a source of domestic poli- tical resentment and mockery than his european political science: 9 2010 213(213–222) & 2010 European Consortium for Political Research. 1680-4333/10 http://tieba.baidu.com/mo/q/checkurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palgrave-journals.com%2Feps%2F&urlrefer=43a48b7175fc92d9c4db2c28f12493db inability to deliver on his campaign pro- mises and his ‘bling bling’ personal beha- viour. His apparent camaraderie with Obama, some say tinted with jealousy, is more than endorsed by the vast majority of French people, who still approve highly of the American president one year into his mandate. Should we expect the current rappro- chement between France and the US to pacify the relationship between the French and globalization? Vice versa, should the current French attitude to- wards globalization lead to a new policy towards the US? After all, globalization and Americanization have long been con- nected in French minds and rhetoric. France has had an ongoing tumultuous relation with globalization and American- ization, which was rekindled by the global financial meltdown. This article argues that this relation was temporarily ap- peased at the time of the 2007 election, which enabled Sarkozy to come to power. French attitudes towards globalization have evolved on the margin, yet this evolution has not happened because of the new environment created by the policies of Sarkozy, but rather in spite of them. First, because the rapprochement with the US, at least on economic issues, is not so clear as it has often been portrayed. And second, because globali- zation no longer equals Americanization. This should help mitigate the strains put on the Franco-American relationship by the financial crisis. GLOBALIZATION, AMERICANIZATION, AND THE ELECTION OF SARKOZY France has long entertained a tumultuous relation with globalization and American- ization. This relation was temporarily appeased at the time of the 2007 French presidential campaign, which enabled Sarkozy to be elected. However, the pro-American, pro-business Sarkozy did ‘At the time, the equation was simple: globalization equals Americanization.’ not get elected because of his novel vision, but in spite of it. THE FRENCH COLLECTIVE FEAR OF GLOBALIZATION For many years France was holding a singular position in Europe, and among all the advanced industrialized countries, on the issue of globalization – a position made of obsession, fear, defiance, rejec- tion, and schizophrenia. Less than a decade ago, the French were completely obsessed with globalization (Gordon and Meunier, 2001). A sheep farmer who had ransacked a McDonalds had become a national hero; anti-globalization pamph- lets were flying off the shelves; anti- globalization associations were all the rage; and even President Jacques Chirac was talking the talk of the anti- globalization movement (Meunier, 2000). At the time, the equation was simple: globalization equals Americanization. American companies, from fast food chains to Hollywood studios, were sub- jecting the world to their products, destroying national cultures in the pro- cess, with no consideration for social justice, only the maximization of profit as the ultimate objective. Globalization was perceived as bad because it was perceived as American. Over the past twenty years, France has been transformed considerably as a result of technological and demographic chal- lenges, in addition to the twin pressures of Europeanization and globalization (Schmidt, 1996; Culpepper, 2006). But for various reasons that I have analysed elsewhere, these massive transforma- tions of the French economy, society and polity were for the most part not 214 european political science: 9 2010 globalization, americanization and sarkozy’s france communicated and enacted through tra- ditional open political debate, but instead took place in the shadows (Meunier, 2003). While the French political econo- my has deeply but incrementally changed over the past two decades, this change has taken place quietly, as if the only version of globalization that the French could tolerate was ‘globalization by stealth’. By the end of the 1990s, globalization was a political buzzword with very nega- tive connotations – and a French obses- sion. Other European countries seemed to embrace the opportunities offered by globalization, while others adopted a ‘wait and see attitude’. Not France. There it had become taboo to speak positively about globalization, even though France’s globalized companies were reaping the benefits of globalization. On the left as on the right, policy- makers took major steps to ensure that France be well positioned in the new globalized world, but they covered their tracks by holding a very public, almost interchangeable discourse about the need for globalization to be ‘managed’ and ‘humanized’. Since the French still look back fondly on the role of state planning and intervention in creating an attractive country with generous social protections, they remain wary of the sorts of neo-liberal doctrines that have been embraced not only in the US but also, it seems, everywhere else in Europe. In France, until very recently, it was more popular and acceptable to denounce the ravages of ‘jungle capitalism’ or the ‘dictatorship of stockholders’, than it was to praise the free market. The polls are unanimous in reflecting this collective fear: the French have long been particularly worried about globalization, much more so than their neighbours. A 2007 report by the Centre d’Analyse Strate ́gique confirms this pattern (Centre d’analyse strat ́egique, 2007): 71 per cent of the French people polled stated that globalization was a threat versus an opportunity, compared to only 47 per cent of Europeans in all EU countries. And the same poll showed, no surprise, that the French were, of all the Europeans, the least favourable towards globalization. It is also in France that competition is deemed to be the most negative in Europe. THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH PERCEPTIONS OF GLOBALIZATION DURING THE CAMPAIGN Has France changed its tune on globaliza- tion with the election of Sarkozy? Did his pro-American displays appease French views of globalization and make them more in line with those of the rest of the Western world? I argue that it is not Sarkozy who was able to change French perceptions of globalization and Ameri- canization, but rather this change in perceptions that enabled him to get elected. The change in perceptions was slight but still noticeable. One novelty is that, at least until the financial crisis hit in the autumn of 2008, it was no longer taboo to consider how France could best benefit from globalization or to recognize that there is a need for the country to adapt. The change happened sometime during the 2007 presidential campaign. It is as if the floodgates guarding positive feelings about globalization, on the right as on the left, have finally been opened after more than a decade (Chopin, 2008; Cohen-Tanugi, 2008; Laidi, 2008). The media have become much more critical of blanket anti-globalization state- ments. Le Monde, and even Liberation, have changed on this. They now report facts such as trade is one of the sectors creating the most jobs in France, so it is paradoxical that politicians always attack globalization, which was unheard of several years ago. They were critical of the protectionism defended by Sarkozy