The declinologists, however, haven't sprung from nowhere; they have thrived on a real and deep malaise that France has experienced for the past 20 years. Their talent has been to catch the people's imagination and occupy the ideological ground left empty by a deafeningly silent socialist party. The declinologists have a ready-to-use, all-including theory, which has proved extremely handy and has spread like wildfire. According to them, France now stands where Britain was in the late 70s. When you have said that, you have said it all: anybody with the benefit of hindsight concludes that there is only one possible way out - a French Thatcher. And the closest we get to Thatcher in France is Nicolas Sarkozy. By the way, most of the declinologists are Sarkozy's personal consultants or friends. QED.
Its the same thing in this country.....although I am not clear whether Sarkozy is politically left or right. The progressives or liberals in this country are saying that the US is in decline, while the right attacks them for their negativity.
Interestingly enough, I believe both countries are in decline for different almost opposite reasons. IMO France's focus is too narrowly French. They are so worried about the dilution of the French culture that new ideas are left standing at the border. Do the French still have their own internet, le Ticketnet? You rarely see French websites on line........because the linqua franca is English. And few Frenchmen feel comfortable speaking English.
Plus, the French are good at certain things but not so good at others. Some manufacturing they do reasonably well but mostly their companies are okay like Alcatel and not considered industry leaders. Where they excel is in the food and clothing industries.........and there is increasing slippage in those areas as other countries compete in those industries.
Their major corporations are seen as insular and not cutting edge. France has carved its own path and I think that's been detrimental to its well being.
But, of course, President Chirac and his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, only want to see that side of the equation: declinologists are Sarkozists, so must be overtaken politically, a very short-sighted position with the presidential election in 13 months. However dangerous the declinologists and Sarkozy are for the country, the problem is certainly not only tactical: it is political, economic, social and philosophical. Chirac is playing Russian roulette with Sarkozy but it is France that may get the bullet.
And then when you get to the social issues, France is a real mess. The Muslim riots last fall were a wakeup call for the country. And now the current riots........I can't even begin to understand what the people in the streets are protesting. Some say its because they want jobs; others because they feel job security is being diminished by the new law. Trying to determine if they are being reasonable at all is lost in the fray that has developed. The way the people in the streets are rioting it is as if they are looking for a "national cataclysm" as the author suggests. I have never understood the French emotionalism.........even more so now than before. |
