Macronism: Neoliberal Triumph or Next Stage in France's Political Crisis?

Details

Published on Wednesday, 28 June 2017 23:00

Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1441 .... June 29, 2017
____________________________________________________

Macronism: Neoliberal Triumph or Next Stage in France's Political Crisis?

Stefan Kipfer

"Putain, nous sommes en marche arrière"
— Slogan on a wall in the 20th district of Paris

"I really hope Macron can reform France, which is not doing well, you know." These were the words of a young and stylish corporate lawyer, who started chatting with me during lunch in the cafeteria of the French national library. Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche had just won the Parliamentary elections. The lawyer tried to convince me of the benefits of liberalism but also expressed anxiety about whether Macron would manage to do what previous Presidents have not: overcome all the various social and institutional obstacles in the way of a full-fledged neoliberalism.
His ambivalence captured the tone of those capitalists and financial journalists who voice cautious optimism about Macron's capacity to restore the confidence of global investors and the European Troika in France. But, in their tunnel vision of an impossible liberal utopia, these commentators typically gloss over the thorny problem of political rule. Macron is both a symptom and cause of the current political crisis in France: a decomposition of the party system alternating between the right and the (nominally) left, reinforced by systemic uncertainty about the future of the European Union and Euro-American imperialism. This crisis is expressed most clearly by the angst-driven willingness of most French politicians to normalize rules of exception in order to bypass parliament and perpetuate the state of emergency in place since 2015.

Continue reading

Share on Facebook

Follow us onr0

If you wish to subscribe: this link

Forward to a friend: this link

r39
powered by phpList