ABSTRACT
Originally a protege of Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy had alienated his patron by supporting Edouard Balladur in the 1995 presidential contest, but Sarkozy’s undeniable talents made it impossible for Chirac to keep him out of the government after 2002. Sarkozy had been elected on promises of reducing government deficits and the state role in the economy, but he spent most of his term dealing with the “Great Recession,” the world financial crisis that exploded in the fall of September 2008. As economic conditions appeared to be stabilizing, Sarkozy announced austerity measures to reduce the government deficit and a freeze on government spending increases. Francois Hollande had promised France a “normal” presidency, but he and the country quickly found themselves confronting a world that was anything but normal. Emmanuel Macron, elected president of France in May 2017, ran on the slogan, “France should be an opportunity for all.”
