Emmanuel Macron is full of charm and has the skill to use it. Alternatively, ‘Manu’ is arrogant, out of touch, the ‘President of the rich.’ Alain Lefebvre rejects the cut and thrust of these binary interpretations. Instead, he offers an approach focused on Macron’s life, personality, and presidency. Macron Unveiled provides a lively and insightful analysis of the Macron phenomenon. Following his spectacular rise to power, mainstream commentators have been so dazzled by Macron that clear-sighted analysis has often been set aside. Lefebvre’s claims about the young President are bold and clear: Emmanuel Macron offers a lesson for the world and a model for future political leaders. His defining features are charm and seduction, preference for diplomacy over conflict, and tough-minded pragmatism. Macron is a man for the times.
Alain Lefebvre is a political writer, international policy consultant, and former diplomat. After some years working in information technology and electronics, he went on to study finance, psychology, and political science. Lefebvre then trained at the prestigious École Nationale d’administration (ENA). His book-length study of Macron’s early social reforms and the Nordic model first appeared in 2018.
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron was born in 1977 in Amiens, France, the son of a physician and a Professor of Neurology at the University of Picardy. After completing high school, he went on to study Philosophy and later completed a master’s degree in Public Affairs at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). Like Lefebvre, Macron subsequently trained to become a senior civil servant at the ENA. Following a brief period as a private banker, in 2012, he began working full-time as deputy secretary-general of the Elysée and later Minister of Economy for President Francois Hollande. In April 2016, Macron resigned from his position to run for the French Presidency.
An astute observer, Lefebvre mirrors Macron’s pragmatism with a purposeful decision to avoid polemics and focus the book’s assessment on what is useful or not. Macron Unveiled examines Macron’s disposition and his politics: in the context of France, the European Union (EU), and foreign affairs. The book is an intelligent, well-informed political biography that draws on a wealth of sources in both English and French. The work will also be of particular interest to readers concerned with political strategy, diplomacy, and the future of liberal internationalism. Lefebvre’s political background and impressive knowledge of French politics position him as a formidable analyst of the young President. The book’s story is that Macron’s clear-eyed, pragmatic and non-ideological leadership offers a lesson for the world.
The structure of the book itself is a particular strength. The first three chapters deal primarily with Macron’s reputation for charm and seduction. Lefebvre’s points are clear and well communicated, and he does much to dispel the widespread accusation that Macron is insincere. Does he feign empathy and understanding to manipulate others? Or is Macron’s charm genuine? For Lefebvre, the answer is emphatically the latter. For example, despite clear political differences and initial bad blood, Macron managed to forge an unlikely friendship with President Trump. Similarly, despite his toxic relationship with many European leaders – after just a short time with the French President – the far-right Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán claimed that Macron ‘had brought back the intellectual strength of debates about visions into European politics’ (p. 31).
Why does Macron succeed where others fail? To explain this ability, Lefebvre argues that Macron is an expert political shapeshifter. He is approachable, charming, and charismatic; he adapts to a given audience and recognizes that different audiences require different messages. Macron changes his appearance and behavior, but he never abandons his goals: he is pragmatic and tough-minded but sincere. In a particularly insightful chapter, Lefebvre unveils Macron’s sincerity in the circumstances of his relationship with his wife, Brigitte. Emmanuel met Brigitte as a fifteen-year-old student; she was his 39-year-old teacher. In its infancy, the relationship was both controversial and challenging. Initially, the young Macron’s parents sent him to study in Paris to break the couple up. Yet Macron persisted. Lefebvre demonstrates the dual importance of Macron’s love story for understanding him: on the one hand, he is capable of deep sincerity, and on the other hand, impossible is not a word in his vocabulary. Macron is the genuine article.
Lefebvre’s arguments are compelling because the early chapters of the book serve as a solid foundation for wide-ranging discussions: of Macron’s enthusiasm for Nordic-inspired socio-economic reform; his flexibility as a crisis manager; and his shift towards a pragmatic model of liberal foreign policy. Throughout the book, it is demonstrated that Macron has an extraordinary capacity to befriend both ally and foe. Candor and honesty for Lefebvre are the reason for his charm. Yet, while Macron may have a dazzling smile, he also has sharp teeth (p. 35). In the context of foreign policy, Lefebvre explains that Macron favors clear and resolute diplomacy as a means to ‘make France an independent, humanist and European power’ (p. 192).
On the other hand, the limits to Macron’s humanism are scrutinized. Most severely, Lefebvre notes the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in France, many of whom, according to the European Court of Human Rights, are forced to live on the streets (p. 205). If there is an issue with Macron, his pragmatism tends to negate his humanism.
There is much to learn from this erudite study of the French President. Alain Lefebvredemonstrates that Macron is as genuine and empathetic as he is arrogant and out of touch. Simple binaries do not apply. Perceptively, Lefebvre shows that the young President realizes that he does not have to be loved, or even admired, to be respected. In a politically unstable world, Macron is pragmatic and non-ideological, a political shapeshifter with a clear-eyed strategic vision for France, Europe, and the world. For Macron, political ideas are not ‘true or false’ but ‘useful or not.’ For Lefebvre, Macronian pragmatic liberalism can and should serve as inspiration for a new generation of world leaders. Part political biography, part handbook for aspiring world leaders, Macron Unveiled offers a map to steer through the political center in fractured times.
