In this 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. 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, an unorthodox position for a French leader, and his vision for Europe is 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.

Sarkozy came to power promising radical political and social change while simultaneously developing a presidential persona that melded the public and the personal under the glare of media attention, unparalleled in the French Fifth Republic. This volume provides a detailed analysis of the fit between his ambitions and the outcomes of his presidency

Analyzes the notion of the French exception and the ways in which it has informed both academic analysis and political commentary on France today. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach it examines the resilience of the notion of French exceptionalism and evaluates its relevance in a changing domestic and global context.

Nicholas Sarkozy was elected President of France with a broken heart. Shortly after he took office, his second wife, Ceceila, left him for another man. He sat brooding alone by night in the Presidential Palace. Though on top of the world, and one of the most powerful men in Europe, he felt very much alone. Sick of his own company, he asked a friend to arrange a dinner party - and Carla Bruni was included on the guest list. A former supermodel and chart-topping singer-songwriter, Carla had a reputation as a man-eater: and she dined on the most exclusive Cordon Bleu. Her former suitors and boyfriends inlcluded Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Primer Minister Laurent Fabius and billionaire Donald Trump. But more than wealth and artistic brilliance, 'I want a man with nuclear power', she said: and Sarkozy had his finger on the button. The two flirted all night: and their first private date came twnety-four hours later. Within a few months, the President of France had a new finacee. Based on exclusive interviews with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and many of the French elite close to both her and the President, this is the true and previously untold story of Europe's most glamorous couple. Read of how they met, fell instantly in love, and played a cat and mouse game with the world press before marrying in secret, to the amazement of the French people. A bestseller in France, this is the definitive account of the world's most gripping and dramatic modern tale of true romance.

CEPS is an independent policy research institute based in Brussels. Its mission is to produce sound analytical research leading to constructive solutions to the challenges facing Europe today. This report is based on discussions in the CEPS Task Force on EU Reform.

In the French Republic political leadership is normally provided by the presidency, albeit from a very narrow constitutional base. This volume examines the strengths and weaknesses of that leadership as well as the way that executive power has been established in the republican context.

In February of 2008, amid the looming global financial crisis, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France asked Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, along with the distinguished French economist Jean Paul Fitoussi, to establish a commission of leading economists to study whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the most widely used measure of economic activity - is a reliable indicator of economic and social progress. The Commission was given the further task of laying out an agenda for developing better measures. Mismeasuring Our Lives is the result of this major intellectual effort, one with pressing relevance for anyone engaged in assessing how and whether our economy is serving the needs of our society. The authors offer a sweeping assessment of the limits of GDP as a measurement of the well-being of societies - considering, for example, how GDP overlooks economic inequality (with the result that most people can be worse off even though average income is increasing); and does not factor environmental impacts into economic decisions.In place of GDP, Mismeasuring Our Lives introduces a bold new array of concepts, from sustainable measures of economic welfare, to measures of savings and wealth, to a ''green GDP.'' At a time when policymakers worldwide are grappling with unprecedented global financial and environmental issues, here is an essential guide to measuring the things that matter.