Testimony: France, Europe, and the World in the Twenty-First Century - Tapa dura

In an important book from the newly elected president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy sets forth his personal vision of France's role in world affairs and his plans for modernizing the country and equipping it for the twenty-first century.

Testimony begins with a series of remarkable episodes from President Sarkozy's career. Trained as a lawyer, he entered politics as a grassroots party organizer for the Gaullist movement in the 1970s. His political career moved forward with triumphs and setbacks, revealing a fascinating and complex political personality in the making. His episodic narrative illuminates the brash, provocative, passionate, and open-minded style that assured his success and provides a refreshing contrast to France's stagnant, elite-dominated political culture.

With unusual candor, President Sarkozy describes the difficulties France has faced in recent years—high unemployment, social tensions, inadequate education, a government that has not been responsive or responsible when confronting economic and social problems. In international relations, he calls for a new approach to the way France positions itself in the world. He is a great admirer of the United States and writes: "I stand by France's friendship with the United States, I'm proud of it, and I have no intention of apologizing for feeling an affinity with the greatest democracy in the world." In Testimony, he explores what this will mean for France's traditionally independent foreign policy. His vision for Europe is equally ambitious and far-reaching; his iconoclastic views on Israel and the Arab world, Africa, globalization, immigration, and the environment promise a sharp break with the past.

The ideas of France's new president are probably more daring, coherent, and compelling than those of any French leader in decades. Furthermore, he remains optimistic about France, insisting that the country is eager to embrace profound change. Bold, pragmatic, a risk-taker, President Sarkozy sets forth an exciting new direction for France as it enters the world of the twenty-first century.