Antoine Vauchez - Protecting the public sphere and restoring democratic citizenship

Antoine Vauchez, Research Professor at the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, discusses the future role citizens must play in their democracies.

About Antoine Vauchez

"I’m a research professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

My work relates particularly to the intersection between markets, states and democracy, and I look at that through the angle of law and lawyers. I have recently published a book entitled The Neoliberal Republic: Corporate Lawyers, Statecraft, and the Making of Public-Private France."

Public versus private interests

The neoliberal State has undermined public goods by many means. The initial promise of neoliberalism was to clarify the distinction between the mission of the State and the mission of the market, but the paradox is that after 30 or 40 years of neoliberalism, what we have is a very blurred situation, with unprecedented hybridisation and confusion between public and private interests.

Key Points

• We should be able to maintain an autonomous public sphere, a public sphere where citizens have an equal influence on regulation.
• Citizens should, through NGOs and public agencies, be the guardians of the border between the public and the private.
• Citizens should be able to have an effect within the State. To achieve this, the State should not be geared exclusively towards the development of private markets.