Presidential emotions under the Fifth Republic: Self-control norms and collective emotion regulation
Should the President of the Republic show his emotions? The norm of self-control which was built over the course of political history was imposed under the Fifth Republic for three reasons: self-control is part of the rationalization of state power, it distinguishes those who occupy high positions, it provides a position of strength in discussions. But if he cannot succumb to emotions, the Head of State cannot ignore them. He manages the regulation of emotions, imposing by his speech exemplary collective emotions, for example following the attacks or the deaths of popular personalities. By comparing the emotions shown by General de Gaulle with those of his last successors, in particular Nicolas Sarkozy and Emmanuel Macron, we can finally make the hypothesis of a release of the blood standard-cold and a banalization of expressiveness at the top of the State.