Philip Manow on the role of the body in politics

Political scientist Philip Manow cites French President Nicolas Sarkozy as proof that today's democracy is by no means as "de-personalised" or "disembodied" as generally believed. "The private sphere remains political even in our allegedly enlightened times, in which it is no longer so simple to link the fluctuating economy with changing love affairs of the ruler as it was on the eve of the French Revolution, when people unquestioningly blamed bad harvests on Louis XVI's impotence. ... No one knows this better than Nicolas Sarkozy himself. The main task of the bodyguards who were his constant companions during the presidential election campaign was to make sure photographers didn't get pictures of his shoes, with their high heels. They weren't protecting his physical body from attack but his political persona from the attacks of the media against his public image."

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