But will not too quickly to turn the page

ODYSSEY POLICY

TONY BLAIR

by Sophie Loussouarn, Séguier, 350 pages, 23 euros.

Tony Blair The New Labour The "third way" Who remembers these policy innovations which, ten years ago, to the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, were dreaming an France governed by Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin Tony Blair gave power two years ago, ten years after having su triumphantly conquer them, and, unprecedented phenomenon for a labour, after two re-elections. What appeared if modern there if little is today forgotten like a wilted flower.

But will not too quickly to turn the page. Serious biography Sophie Loussouarn spends on "The Odyssey of Tony Blair" is so that Nicolas Sarkozy strives to accomplish that leads to the question on the common problem that one as the other sought and seek to address: how to govern a nation old European in the context of globalization

Survival of the old nations

The old European nations are confronted with a problem that they have never had to know: that of survival. This is five centuries that they have provided their development by the domination of the rest of the world. They have discovered, mapped, exploited, colonized, servo. They were found in this expansion a prosperity that is almost more conceivable.

However, since the end of the second world war, the colonized planet is free and now is smart for may soon claim the domination of the new globalized world. The challenge for the old European nations, is also reported that significant. How to preserve their leadership How to avoid that the interdependence of globalization does condemn them to reliance on other markets, other cultures who thirst for revenge

The ambition should probably say "faith" of a Tony Blair, both the religious dimension is present in it, is first and foremost national. The United Kingdom is not sentenced if he can find in a new Government the terms of its modernization. The equation seem impossible, do not fear "breaks", while remaining faithful to the values that have made the nation.

Blair the autocratic...

Sophie Loussouarn methodically analyses how Tony Blair will resolve. It first will power even stronger that it must know escape of all prejudices that might limit it. Nothing is taboo. The dogmas and traditions in particular. Tony Blair, when he became leader of the Labour, begins with him free of the dogma of the nationalizations. The leader must be free. His command must be without limit. Several constitutional provisions be adopted to ensure. Tony Blair has the reputation of an autocrat.

Its "freedoms", Tony Blair will put it to use in the different compartments of its domestic policy: a fight against the crime without taboos, an economic policy which encourages companies, a social policy focused on the idea of "workfare", where the State seeks to equip individuals the skills that will enable them to seize the "opportunities" that offers a world which constantly move and that it would be vain to regimenting anso that education becomes the first pillar of the welfare state. Considerable efforts, finally, are made to improve the public health service. It is empowering the British to seize on the globalization that they undergo.

... and the Warrior

Sophie Loussouarn recalled how Tony Blair could make war: intervention in Sierra Leone upon his arrival at 10 Downing Street, commitment very intense that NATO intervention in Kosovo and, in the aftermath of September 11, rallying to the "war on terror" by George W.. Bush. The old European nations have inherited from the military power. They must know how to use. There are just wars. You should know to defend its values to the outside. At the age of terrorism and globalization, a certain messianism is justified.

Tony Blair left office in June 2007 also discredited that it had been celebrated ten years previously. This, according to Sophie Loussouarn, two reasons. The first is his style, authoritarianism, especially tiring in the long run that Tony Blair is going to be repeatedly taken caught lying. Great moral statements make them vulnerable to any suspicion of corruption and the argument for intervention in Iraq has proven its handling capabilities. The second is that, in the eyes of the British, his activism had no effect in reality. Margaret Thatcher has released the English economy. It was up to Tony Blair to give its social dimension. He did nothing instituted. Hence the disappointment.

The biography of Sophie Loussouarn to measure how the French left to browse to find the power. It also shows that this form of Messianic leadership must learn to be wary of itself and its own "runaways". It must establish.