Dominique Strauss-Kahn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Enlarge

Dominique Strauss-Kahn (born 25 April 1949 in Neuilly-sur-Seine; often referred to as DSK) is a French economist, lawyer, and politician, member of the French Socialist Party.

He is Professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies, better known as Sciences Po) and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (better known as HEC).

He sought the nomination to the Socialist presidential candidacy for the 2007 election but was defeated by Ségolène Royal in November 2006.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was born on April 25, 1949 to a Jewish family in Neuilly-sur-Seine; he spent part of his childhood in Morocco and Monaco.

He studied economics and political science at Sciences Po and business at HEC. Furthermore, he obtained a degree in public law, as well as a Ph.D and an agrégation in eonomics. In 1977, Strauss Kahn became economics professor. He taught at the Université de Nancy-II (1977-1980), at the University of Nanterre (since 1981) and the École nationale d'administration. He is currently full professor at Sciences Po, where he teaches microeconomics and macroeconomics at undergraduate level.

In 1971, he worked at the Centre de recherche sur l'épargne (Research Centre on Savings) with Paul Hermelin, his future chief of staff at the Ministry of Industry in 1991, and Denis Kessler, at the time member of the Revolutionary Communist League. In 1982, Kessler became his teaching assistant in Nanterre, and co-authored L’épargne et la retraite ("Savings and retirement") with him the same year.

[edit] Politics

Strauss-Kahn had spent some time at the Centre d'Etudes, de Recherches et d'Education Socialiste (Center on Socialist Education Studies and Research) led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement, where he befriended the future French prime minister Lionel Jospin.

After the election of President François Mitterrand in 1981, he decided to stay out of government to get involved in the Socialist Party, at the time led by Lionel Jospin and founded Socialisme et judaïsme ("Socialism and Judaism"). In the same year, he is appointed to the Commissariat au plan (planning commission). In 1986 he was elected deputy for the first time in Haute-Savoie, and in 1988 in Val-d'Oise. He became chairman of the Commission des Finances ("Commission on Finances"), famously exchanging some heated words with the Finance Minister Pierre Bérégovoy.

[edit] Minister for Industry

In 1991, he became junior minister for Industry in Édith Cresson's government and kept his position under Pierre Bérégovoy until the 1993 general elections.

After the electoral defeat of 1993, Strauss-Kahn chaired the groupe des experts du PS ("group of experts of the Socialist Party"), created by Claude Allègre and supported by former Prime Minister Michel Rocard. In 1994, Raymond Lévy, then director of Renault, invited him to join the Cercle de l’Industrie, a French industry lobby in Brussels, where he met businessman Vincent Bolloré and top manager Louis Schweitzer; Strauss-Kahn served as secretary-general and later as vice-president.

In 1993, he founded the law firm "DSK Consultants" and worked as business lawyer.

In June 1995, he was elected mayor of Sarcelles and married Anne Sinclair, a famous television journalist working for the private channel TF1.

[edit] Minister for Economics, Finances, and Industry

In 1997, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin appointed Strauss-Kahn as minister for Economics, Finance, and Industry, making him one of the most influential ministers in his government.

He implemented a wide privatization program, which included among others the IPO of France Telecom, and implemented some deregulation policies to support the research and development sector. The French economy achieved an excellent performance during his office: the GDP increased, whereas unemployment and public debt decreased. This helped to strenghten his popularity as reliable politician and managed to win the support of former supporters of Lionel Jospin and Michel Rocard, making him the leader of the reform-oriented group Socialisme et Démocratie. However, during his office he failed in opposing the proposal of a working time reduction to 35 hours, a measure proposed by Martine Aubry, minister for Social Policies.

In 1999, he was involved in two financial scandals related to Elf and the MNEF, a student health insurance, and decided to resign from his minister office, which was taken on by Christian Sautter. He was later completely acquitted, and was easily reelected in a by-election.

[edit] Recent career

He was reelected deputy on 16 July 2002 for the 12th legislature (2002-2007) in the 8th district of the Val-d'Oise under the socialist label. This district includes the following cantons Garges-lès-Gonesse (east), Garges-lès-Gonesse (west), Sarcelles (north east), and Villiers-le-Bel.

At the end of 2004, he was given overall responsibility for drawing up the Socialist programme for the 2007 presidential election, along with Martine Aubry and Jack Lang. During the summer meeting of 2005, he announced that he would be a candidate for the primary elections of the Socialist Party for the presidential election.

He now leads the think-tank À gauche en Europe ("To the Left in Europe"), which he created with Michel Rocard and Pierre Moscovici; he also is president of Socialisme et Démocratie ("Socialism and Democracy"), a group within the Socialist Party.

Strauss-Kahn sought the nomination to the Socialist candidacy for the 2007 presidential election. His challengers were former prime minister Laurent Fabius and Ségolène Royal, the president of the Region of Poitou-Charentes. Strauss-Kahn finished second, behind Royal.

[edit] Mandates

Presently, from 2002 :

[edit] Works

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/o/m/Dominique_Strauss-Kahn_a4cb.html"
In other languages