Liberté, égalité, fraternité is the motto of the French Republic. From revolutionary times to today, liberty, equality and fraternity have resonated as core values of all types of republicans, from left to right, and act as a profession of faith highlighting common values, aspirations and beliefs. The three values have survived changes in political régimes, the erosion of the centuries, wars, counter-revolutions and civil strife. Even under the Vichy régime, the appeal of the motto had to be quashed with a new tripartite motto: work, family, fatherland became the alternatives to republican thought under occupation. Macron has continued the republican tradition, and has sought to live up to its ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. Yet one cannot help but notice at the very least a slight rebranding, or, for Macron’s critics, a thorough overhaul of those republican ideals. Liberty has made way for a strengthening of the state in its sovereign functions: those of maintaining order and projecting power with a rise in the notion of security. Equality has been defended according to one particular definition, one that promotes merit above all other types of equality. Fraternity has given way to hope, with a vision for a future prosperous France built around the figure of the entrepreneur. It is this particular interpretation of the French Republic’s motto, by Macron, his governments and political movement, that is under investigation here. It forms the basis of Macron’s ideology, the core values of a new vision for France.

The rise of Emmanuel Macron to power announced a revolution, as his own book/ political programme of 2016, titled Révolution, attempted to portray. This is an overstatement. Macron’s reforms and ideals, taken individually, have roots that make them, at best, incremental changes in focus. Nicolas Sarkozy had already insisted on security as a core value, the French educational system is notoriously highly meritocratic and the pride of politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, and the rise of the entrepreneur as a figure of hope did not wait for the rise of centrism as a political force.