Politics class: Emmanuel Macron: ‘For me, the key is multilateralism that produces results’

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Specification: 

• Edexcel Component 3 Global Politics Topic 1 Globalisation and the State, Topic 2 Global Governance (Political and Economic), Topic 3 Global Governance (Human Rights and Environmental)

Background: what you need to know 

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, is a man in a hurry. In his most recent interview he laments the failures of the past few years of global leadership and talks of renewing global governance institutions. The key is multilateralism, he argues, and with a re-engaged America he hopes to set the agenda for a post coronavirus world.

Speaking ahead of an online G7 conference, he talks of the need to renew the World Trade Organization so disputes can be dealt with quickly without unilateral action, “perhaps a way of pacifying relations with China”. He raises the need to re-engage China and Russia and is buoyed by a conversation he had with President Biden and vice-president Harris, which was dominated by discussions about democracy. We must deal with the “globalisation of hate” and the role of social media in disrupting democracy. He argues there is a need to challenge China on its human rights abuses, but at the same time its status in the world means it is impossible to sideline the growing superpower.

Macron talks of the need to reform the UN Security Council which “no longer works”, replaced by regional organisations. This has led to a failure to deal with international crises. But at the same time, he reiterates his aim to make Europe self sufficient on defence issues, calling once again for a European defence organisation “not because I’m against Nato or because I doubt our American friends”, but because he sees a need for the EU to protect its own neighbourhood.

Lastly, the French President believes that there needs to be a rapprochement with Russia. “We continue sometimes to fight against an ideology or an organisation that no longer exists with a geopolitical logic that no longer exists and that has continued to fracture Europe.”

Click to read the article below and then answer the questions:

Emmanuel Macron: ‘For me, the key is multilateralism that produces results’

This interview will help a politics student in many of the global politics topic, here are some examples:

Topic 1 — Globalisation and the State: Macron is worried about political globalisation and the dominance of liberal democratic values. He worries how social media is harming democracies from within.

Topic 2 — Global Governance (Political and Economic): Macron’s call to reform the WTO, NATO and the UN helps with a ‘reform to global governance’ question. You may say something like this in an essay, “in February 2021, President Macron argued that the Security Council “no longer works” and called for its reform by re-engaging China and Russia.”

Topic 3- Global Governance (Human Rights and Environmental): Although the Biden administration has agreed to label China’s brutal crackdown on the Uighur Muslims ‘a genocide’, Macron still wants to engage China and is against sidelining the power. Is this position compatible with a commitment to human rights?

Jal Patel, Woodhouse College