What Does Irresponsibility Look Like in Politics?
Two Case Studies From the French Political and the Battle Over the Next French Prime Minister
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What would you consider as a responsible political behavior for people like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Vladimir Putin, or Benjamin Netanyahu? What do we mean when we say things like: “He is a responsible politician” or “That politician is not responsible.”
Responsibility is a major topic in ethics and politics. It is central to how we think about politics and one of the primary reasons why we support or don't support a politician.
However, as Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) explained, it is a rather new philosophical concept that gathers different aspects such as legal, moral and even religious dimensions — some of them coming from different but related ideas (1994).
If Ricoeurian conceptual analyses are useful and highly valuable in a philosophical context, there is little risk in considering that they do not fix what people think of, for instance, a particular politician.
In this post, I want to explore two cases in which I believe politicians are irresponsible: namely, (1) when their political behavior follows their personal interests and (2) poses a threat to the greater good.
I will not talk about the politicians mentioned above for several reasons. The first is that I am not from these countries. Even though I have my own opinions, I do not understand their policies like I do French politicians.
Thus, I will talk about two French politicians: Emmanuel Macron, the current President of the French Republic, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of “a part” (some people would say “the whole”) of the left opposition. You may not know the second one, but at least from my perspective, they are both symptomatic of what people are tired of. (That also partly explains the growth of the far-right vote in France.)
Irresponsible President Emmanuel Macron
Yes, that is certainly a strong title! Let me start by backing it up with concrete example.
On Sunday, June 9, 2024, after losing the European elections to the far right National Rally, President Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly (the lower chamber of the French parliament).
This simple act was irresponsible.
I am not talking about a small political mistake. The decision certainly served President Macron’s own political interests. It probably also compensated for the bad feeling he got from losing the European elections to the far right. But in no case was it a decision for the French people.
What disturbed me the most was not his motivation per se, but the context of the time. As you know, France is one of the countries involved in both the Ukrainian-Russian situation and the Israeli-Palestinian situation — even if it is a modest involvement compared to the United States.
The decision to dissolve the National Assembly was irresponsible because it destabilized national institutions and weakened France’s international voice and action. It was a selfish political move, at least in my opinion.
Of course, nobody knows if the international situation would be better if he had made different political choices. The problem for me is that he has put himself ahead of many other people. Unfortunately, this seems to be common practice for him.
Some people will probably just think that I do not like President Macron. Then let’s have a look at the issue that concerns Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Macron’s strongest left-wing opposition leader).
Irresponsible National Political Leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon
The case of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is different in that it does not concern international security. Rather, it is about what we should expect from a national political leader who wants to become the next president of the French Republic.
During the election campaign that followed President Macron’s dissolution of the National Assembly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (with some of his partisans) sabotaged other leftist political leaders to remain the one who would be able to win the next presidential election.
He didn’t campaign to win the legislative elections. Even if the New Popular Front, the left alliance, somehow came first in last election, it would have been thanks to other candidates and a massive rejection of the National Rally, not to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who himself inspired the rejection of part of the left electorate, including me.
Why do I oppose him? Because he has repeatedly put his own interests before the interests of the country. This is irresponsible for someone who claims he would make a good president.
Conclusion
President Macron has not yet decided who will be the next prime minister. It is, of course, Macron’s responsibility to do so. But so far he has failed to offer even one name; pretty irresponsible.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon also plays a part in the current lack of a prime minister. He refuses to support other left-wing leaders for the job; not wanting to give them leverage to perhaps surpass him.
And let’s not forget about the right. The political right in France is more concerned with the next presidential elections than with the current situation.
Someone will miraculously appear as the next prime minister of France for sure. He explained that he will do it soon, after about 6 weeks! It will be someone compatible with Macron.
But in the mean time, French politics would have lost weeks in this process, thanks to people who simply decided to put their own political interests first. For me, this is a prime example of irresponsibility in politics.
What would be responsible in their situation is to behave according to how we think a decent president, future presidential candidate, politician, or even human being should behave.
Unfortunately, what is “responsible” cannot be defined once and for all from an abstract point of view. It simply does not work. There is no single idea of what is responsible for all contexts and all professional functions that would always be good, or at least acceptable.
Moreover, what I have denounced here as irresponsible behavior on the part of President Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon may seem like the best choice to some of their partisans or to some commentators. From my point of view, the question is: best choice for what and for whom?
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Responsibility should mean, in its best sense, the ability to respond to the situation around one, in the way that best solves the problem(s), that need attending to. In some cases, that requires a quick and direct mode of action, but in others, it requires pragmatism, which often requires waiting, for the best solution to emerge. Macron, may or may not be following this, just not as he anticipated.
As for Melanchon, he may be doing them in reverse, pragmatism, on the hope to succeed, by default, followed by a series of quick direct actions.
Like most political power problems, they will sort themselves out, when their is no other choice.
Politics joins philosophy by way of the Principles of Reasoning that were left to us by the late theoretical physicist Ronald Christensen in the treatise on this topic that is titled the "Entropy Minimax Sourcebook," where its "entropy" is the missing information in the inferences made by a model of a physical system for a deductive conclusion to be reached by these inferences about the conditional outcomes of the events of the future per event. The arguments that are made by the progressive politicians violate these principles.