I just read this post from a blogger who argues that France is the wicked country in Europe today because, “France gives reason to serious worries. France never departed from 70s style Keynesianism and always thought a little too much about itself and its great, great history to really embrace the lowly meddling of Capitalism, that is much less aesthetically pleasing than Louis XIV- and Charles de Gaulle-style politics. In a recent survey, only around 30% of the French responded “yes” to the question, if Capitalism was the best of all economic systems, making them last of all surveyed countries, while China came out on top with 75% saying “yes” to Capitalism.” Those assertions lead to two interesting questions, which I believe hasn't been answered in this whole debate about France, the French, and whether they are cut from reality:
1. Do the French have the right to be different? I think that the struggle for France is one of identity and of how to modernize without losing oneself. Many French politicians have chosen identity over modernity, immobility over globalization because they did not know how to balance the two and because it was easier for them to act as if France was a museum which had to be preserve from the past. However, as I have argued before, the last crisis wasn't one which opposed those who were ready for change and those who weren't. It was a fight against the politics of the worst which forces one to choose between cholera and the place. The French youth said no to that and they were right.
2. Does globalization means sameness or rather uniformity? I believe that what is needed in France and everywhere else are creative and talented politicians which will be able to make globalization look attractive to their electorate by presenting it as an opportunity rather than an ill and by saying that their nation can globalize without americanize. France hasn't yet found politicians who will be able to get out of the false dichotomy which opposes identity and globalization. Next year is an election year in France and I am hopeful that a real political debate will be about France and its future.
Comments