By Mason Richey Mason Richey Sometimes the political is personal. As it happens, I’ve been in France to see friends and family for much of the summer. I’ve thus followed French politics up close.
My first few weeks saw France in political crisis following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to hold a snap national assembly election, which threatened to bring to power the nationalist, populist, xenophobic far right. Ultimately the election produced a legislature with no functional majority for confirming a prime minister to run the government in consultation with the president. How the prime minister nomination will proceed is uncertain.
There has not, however, been much rush to solve the ugly political deadlock. The 2024 Olympic Games, hosted by Paris, have overshadowed everything else and provided an opportunity for national celebration and a break from the domestic political calendar. But of course, beyond sporting prowess, the Olympics are also highly politicized events, notably functioning as a spectacle of public diplomacy.
The host country can use the Games as a symbol of international political stature, as Beijing did in 2008, or as a tool for diplomatic reconciliation, as South Korea attempted with its 2018 Winter Games peace offensive with North Korea. France is using its Summer Games to broadcast national rejuvenation and confidence. This was especially evident during the opening ceremony, which was thematically centered around grand classical French politica.