Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned last week as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid sexual assault allegations in New York – leading to larger questions about how this will affect French politics and economic issues across the Europe. Natalie Bormann, Visiting Assistant Professor of political science at Northeastern University, assesses the impact of this situation and the media coverage that followed.
What are the implications of these events for the French presidential election and the dynamics of the country's political parties?
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was supposed to play a key role in the upcoming French elections, and as such, this scandal could affect the election in many ways. The Socialists will clearly have to rethink their electoral strategy, as will President Nicolas Sarkozy. The scandal is certainly also playing out in the National Front, which is running on an “anti-elite” platform. In a broader context, the scandal has somewhat shaken France's international reputation. There has always been a bit of disdain—by some—about France's supposed over-representation in international institutions.
What impact will this scandal have on the IMF and the debt crisis in Europe?
There have been calls to appoint a non-European head of the IMF, while others are quick to note that the head of the IMF is far less relevant than the institution itself. Regardless of Strauss-Kahn's successor, there is unlikely to be any major change in the IMF's overall philosophy.
In some ways, the shift in attention — away from the details of the European debt crisis, involving Ireland, Greece and Portugal, and toward the sex scandal — is disappointing and even dangerous. The IMF's move to bail out yet another EU debtor should be scrutinized: To begin with, the IMF appears to have moved to become the EU's extended financial arm, and these bailouts are accompanied by austerity measures that burden its ordinary citizens EU Portugal will foot the bill for the €78 billion package by imposing severe cuts in public spending, a strategy that remains a point of contention in Greece.
What is the public response to this situation in France, and has the media played a role?
The media was quick to place the scandal in the context of alleged cultural differences between the United States and France on several levels. For example, there is an emphasis on the ways in which the French were seemingly resentful of the American criminal justice system, particularly when they showed Strauss-Kahn as already guilty. Similarly, the nature of the alleged charges was discussed and understood through a dichotomous cultural lens: Puritan American versus permissive French, suggesting that this alleged sexual misconduct is more common or more acceptable in French society. This is of course not the case.
On a different, yet related note about the media: The case was a classic case of political actors and activities—the IMF, the French elections—being individualized at the expense of political contexts and their complexity. This does not mean that we can or should separate the personal from the political. However, media coverage of Strauss-Kahn and especially the “perp walk” photos can lead to a focus on the personality rather than the larger issues at stake.