The face of technocracy

At the time of writing, in 2019, the opposition between technocracy and populism comes to a head with particular force in two conflicts: three years of increased political turmoil in the United Kingdom following the referendum on membership of the European Union in 2016 and widespread protests by the so-called gilets jaunes (‘Yellow Vests’) against reforms and taxes imposed by Emmanuel Macron. In the first case, technocracy appears in its ultimate faceless incarnation of the EU machinery and the distant power of Brussels, opposed by more or less populist politicians and crowds taking to the streets with signs saying ‘No Deal, No Problem’ and ‘Let Our People Go’. In the second case, technocracy has a very recognizable face: since Macron's road to presidential office in 2017 began, he has been the consensus exemplar of a technocratic head of government, the ultimate technocrat and the leader of a ‘technocratic revolution’ (Stetler, 2016). Faced with the protests of the Yellow Vests and abysmal approval ratings, however, Macron declared his willingness to hear the voice of the people and initiated a ‘grand national debate’ in a direct letter to the citizenry of France early 2019. Since then, the Yellow Vest movement has dwindled, but the conflict remains essentially unsolved and public dissatisfaction with Macron largely unchanged.

But why and how exactly is Macron a technocrat? One of the more widely voiced reasons is that he is a product of the French system of Grands Écoles/Corps, having been educated at the ENA and subsequently becoming a member of the Inspection des Finances. In a somewhat curious turn of events, Macron's suggestions for reform after the grand national debate included a plan to shut down his alma mater, in effect closing the institution that allegedly made him a technocrat. Moreover, Macron seems to follow the career path of professional politician (although his turn as an investment banker is ambiguous in this respect), having served both as a bureaucrat and minister of economy and finance. In addition to his education and career, Macron is viewed as the ultimate technocratic because of his attitude to politics and his desire to rule France ‘like Jupiter’ free of dirty politics (Bengali, 2017) and substituting left and right for what works and getting things done (Goldhammer, 2018).