This paper starts from the premise that the election of Emmanuel Macron was no accident. It was deeply embedded in a French cultural characteristic that is the search for a providential man, an authoritarian paternalist figure who promised to “bring France back on track” and preserve individuals material comfort. Progressively, as the politics conducted since 2017 led to a dead end, masks have fallen, thus revealing that Emmanuel Macron symbolizes the new French elite disconnected from real life and whose ultimate avatar is his incarnation as a warlord definitively signalling the end of an era of negotiation, cooperation, and civic mindedness. This article aims to set out and analyse the key elements of this dynamic from the original angle of Mal francais, merging outdated economic frameworks, culturally ethnocentric assumptions and focalization on past splendor, which will culminate in the premises of an entry into a “war economy”.
Published Date: 2024-08-12; Received Date: 2024-07-12
