What is Bonapartism?
Bonapartism is named after two French rulers from one family: Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis-Napoleon. Both took power in a time of unrest and ruled as emperors. They claimed to speak for the whole people, and they used referendums to show it. They kept some gains of the 1789 revolution, like equality before the law, but allowed little room for opposition. Writers also use the word for any regime where a popular leader rules above parties and classes after a period of turmoil.
Core beliefs
- One leader can speak for the nation better than quarreling parties.
- Rulers earn their right to govern from public votes, not from birth.
- Parliaments and parties should have little real power.
- A strong central state and a skilled civil service should run the country.
- After upheaval, order comes first, but the equality of citizens before the law stays.
- Military glory, public works and national pride bind people together.
History
Napoleon Bonaparte was a general who took power in November 1799 and became First Consul. He made peace with the Catholic Church in 1801, issued a new civil code in 1804, and crowned himself emperor in the same year. His wars reshaped Europe until the defeat at Waterloo in 1815. After his death in exile, a popular legend grew around him. His nephew won the presidency of the Second Republic in 1848 by a landslide. In December 1851 he seized power by force, and in 1852 he became Napoleon III. His empire rebuilt Paris, spread the railways, and opened up politics a little in the 1860s. It ended when Prussia captured him at Sedan in 1870. Karl Marx wrote about the 1851 coup in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.
Variants
Under the Second Empire there was a hard authoritarian wing and a later liberal wing that wanted more parliamentary freedom. After 1870 a Bonapartist party survived for some years, then faded. Historians also use the word for other cases: General Boulanger's campaign in the 1880s, or Gaullism with its strong presidency and referendums. Marxists use it for rulers who balance between rival classes. Caesarism is a close cousin of the term.
Criticisms
Republicans and liberals say the plebiscites were a show. Votes came after the key choice was made, under a muzzled press and watchful police. Royalists saw the Bonapartes as upstarts who had seized a throne that was not theirs. Napoleon I is also blamed for the deaths of vast numbers in his wars, and for bringing back slavery in the French colonies in 1802. Supporters answer that he ended revolutionary chaos, protected property and gave France laws and institutions that lasted.
In practice
Its marks are easy to see in France. The Napoleonic civil code became a model for law in much of Europe and Latin America. Prefects, who represent the central government in each region, and elite schools still shape the French state. The rebuilding of Paris under Baron Haussmann gave the city its wide boulevards. On the 12 axes, the tradition scores very high on Authority and Structure, meaning a strong leader and a central state, and also high on Foreign policy and Security.