Yannick Mireur

Education

A graduate of Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, Yannick Mireur earned an MA and a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston where he was awarded a Fulbright Program scholarship. He has taught at the French Saint-Cyr Military Academy.

Entrepreneurial project

Established in 2009, Nexus is running four cycles of meetings on Russia, Mexico, Turkey, and US Infrastructure, all focused on energy and infrastructure investments and policy. The Russia Nexus held its 5th session in Moscow in October 2011; the Infrastructure Nexus is a series of four sessions on US infrastructure conducted for the New York-based French-American Foundation USA that addresses investments, financing, and policy regarding infrastructure in the United States; Euramex is a cycle of working sessions on Mexico’s energy and infrastructure modernization and emerging global role; the Turkey Nexus, held in Istanbul, brings together public decision-makers and corporate executives to discuss the strategic environment affecting operators in the Turkish energy and infrastructure sectors.

Writings

Under press in August 2008, as Barack Obama had not yet won the Democratic presidential nomination, Après Bush went against the mainstream arguing that the strength of American Conservatism would survive the presidency of George W. Bush. It announced that America would not change, an assertion was not to be taken literally however, and explained why by digging deep into American historical, cultural, and political references. As former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine wrote in his foreword, “After Bush undertakes the more ambitious task of reconstituting the richness and complexity of these issues and events in American history and in deeper American political ideals.”

Although the author then thought that the GOP had a very good chance to keep the White House, even after the failed presidency of Bush Jr. and the Iraq disaster, thanks to the strong candidacy of John McCain and his bold, unconventional profile, Conservatism in American society and politics was the main topic of the essay. It argued that America would remain deeply embedded in values that will continue to make it a very different place from Europe, particularly because of what the author called « the epic battle to conquer the American spirit », a battle largely won by the Conservatives. Reminding the reader of Arthur Schlesinger’s cycles of American history, the book argued that the lasting hey-day of Liberalism since FDR had been followed by a Conservative cycle that was still running its course. The emergence of the Tea Party movement later showed that however denatured, the post-Bush Conservative movement was still a powerful in American politics.

Le Monde d’Obama’s central thesis is that the main force in international politics in the 21st century is the rise of individual aspirations, the desire for breathing space by populations suffocating under the invading intrusion of authoritarian rule. A key argument is also that this phenomenon signaled the triumph of modern Western thought, namely the rule of law, and more importantly the mindset that supports it.

While the book centers on the consequence of rising individual aspirations for China’s once-party system and analyzes the key bilateral relationship of the century between the US and China, it also claims that the Arab world was ill-perceived in America as “rotting between Islam and dictatorship”, when Arab people were essentially exasperated and longing for a better life. Arab events were unfolding as the book's last draft was being finalized, suggesting a few updates.

The Arab world actually contributed to the book’s title as it explains why President Obama was in sync with this world of individual aspirations. However disappointing in its deeds, the Cairo speech of June 2009 had indeed demonstrated Obama’s fundamental understanding of historical forces and their contemporary significance for American leadership. The book contends that Obama’s intellectual and personal development has informed his political ambition, and defines the quality of his leadership - even though such leadership can be sometimes be justifiably criticized for an apparent or real lack of decisiveness.

Reckoning that America is at the crossroads and needs to reinvent a social contract and a global leadership, Le Monde d’Obama also analyzes issues already addressed in Après Bush in a new light, half way into the Obama presidency. Obama’s distinctive bent toward an American synthesis, accepting ideas inherited from both the Republican and the Democratic traditions, vindicates the author’s view that the US President actually resembles less some his Democratic predecessors than such towering Republican figures as Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Both books go at length explaining American political progressivism and how it infuses Obama’s political thinking.

Anecdotally, the original title the author proposed for Après Bush was The Next Roosevelt. This somewhat intriguing title may not have been well understood by non-American readers, however it captured a major underlying belief and argument of the two books: America needs to reinvent a progressist project to revive its self-confidence as American capitalism undergoes a severe crisis, and its world leadership after Bush Jr.’s adventurous foreign policy. Just like FDR did with his New Deal, forging a new relationship between the state and the market, and with the expansion of American leadership. Just like TR had done at a time of capitalist expansion with his Square Deal, and a measured, “speak softly but carry a big stick” approach to rising US power.

Y. Mireur has given numerous lectures in the US (Center for Strategic and International Studies, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, University of Columbia, University of Ottawa, California Technology Institute, etc.), and has contributed editorials to the French business daily Les Échos (France). He is a registered contributor to the newspaper’s fast-growing online platform Les Cercle Les Echos. He is a regular guest of leading French TV and radio media outlets and apparead on CNN as guest of Christiane Amanpour.

Publications