L'exceptionalisme français

After winning 66.1% of the second-round vote, centrist independent Emmanuel Macron was elected President of the French Republic on 7th May 2017. Macron’s great triumph is widely recognised as being exceptional due to several factors of his election making history; whilst becoming the youngest French President to date, he also founded a new constitution La République En Marche! that belonged to neither of France’s two archetypal political parties. These revolutionary factors indicate a momentous turning-point for France’s republic, while signalling a robust revival in French exceptionalism. Similarly, Macron's centrist ally, politician François Bayrou, describes that his victory “sends an incredible message of hope. Macron is giving hope to people who had no hope. Hope that maybe we can do something, go beyond the [left-right] divide that no longer makes sense.” and this essay aims to unravel principles such as these and the deliberations behind them. Additionally, it is equally necessary to deconstruct the factors that subsidised his success before reaching a conclusion: firstly, the French grandeur that accompanies exceptionalism, secondly, the decline of exceptionalism that made space for Macron’s heroism, and thirdly, examining his key policies that embody such a revival.

Firstly, it is indispensable to focus on what the notion of exceptionalism really entails before understanding its interconnection to Macron’s presidency. France has certainly taken immense pride in its public policy; their claim for exceptionalism is found in a wide variety of domains – from gastronomy to language – however, the most apparent aspects that demonstrate a form of uniqueness lie within its revolutionary and conflictual tradition. Additionally, its patriotic discourse was to strengthen the sense of pride and belonging within French society – a fundamental figure who stimulated this idea was former statesman Charles de Gaulle, the first French leader to openly refer to this greatness and ‘grandeur’ as a form of exceptionalism. In his famous speech Certaine Idée de la France, he refers to the uniqueness concept where France

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