Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Encyclopedia
Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (dɔminik stʁos kan; born 25 April 1949), often referred to in the media, and by himself, as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, politician, and member of the French Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

 (PS). Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 (IMF) on 28 September 2007, with the backing of his country's president, Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

, and served in that role until his resignation on 18 May 2011.

He was a professor of economics at the Paris Institute for Political Studies
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...

 ("Sciences Po") and was Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 1999 as part of Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

's "Plural Left" government. He belongs to the right wing of the PS (which is on the center-left of French politics
Politics of France
France is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of France is head of state and the Prime Minister of France is the head of government, and there is a pluriform, multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is...

) and sought the nomination in the primaries
French Socialist Party presidential primary, 2006
The 2006 Socialist party presidential primary was the selection process by which members of the Socialist Party of France chose their candidate for the 2007 French presidential election....

 to the Socialist presidential candidacy for the 2007 election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...

, but he was defeated by Ségolène Royal
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Ségolène Royal , known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party...

 in November 2006.

Early life

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was born in the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...

, Hauts-de-Seine. He is the son of lawyer Gilbert Strauss-Kahn, who specialised in tax law, and journalist Jacqueline Fellus. Strauss-Kahn's father was born to an Alsatian Jewish father and a Catholic mother from Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

; Strauss-Kahn's mother is from a Sephardic Jewish family in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

.

The family settled in Agadir
Agadir
Agadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...

, Morocco, in 1951, but after the 1960 earthquake
1960 Agadir earthquake
The 1960 Agadir earthquake took place on Monday, February 29, 1960, at 23:47 local time. It was the most destructive and deadliest earthquake in Moroccan history with a magnitude of 5.7 Mw, killing around 15,000 people and injuring another 12,000. At least 35,000 people were left homeless...

 moved to Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

, where his father had a legal practice. While the family was living in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

, Strauss-Kahn went to school at the Lycee Albert 1er
Lycee Albert Premier
The Lycée Albert Premier of Monaco is a public secondary school founded in 1910 in the Principality of Monaco. The school offers courses according to the curriculum prescribed by the French Directorate of National Education, Youth and Sports...

. The family later returned to Paris, where he attended high school at the Lycée Carnot
Lycée Carnot
The Lycée Carnot is a public secondary and higher education school located at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. A prestigious Parisian high school, it is also known as one the best classe préparatoire aux écoles de commerce...

. He graduated from HEC Paris in 1971 and from Sciences-Po and ISUP
Paris Institute of Statistics
Institut de Statistiques de l'Université de Paris , founded in 1922 by the mathematician Émile Borel, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious schools for statistics in France...

 in 1972. He sat and failed the entrance examination for École nationale d'administration
École nationale d'administration
The École Nationale d'Administration , one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools , was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials...

, but obtained a degree in public law, as well as a PhD and an agrégation
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...

(1977) in economics at the Université Paris X (Nanterre).

Career outside politics

From 1977 to 1981, Strauss-Kahn lectured at the University of Nancy-II, first as an assistant, and later as assistant professor, before taking a position at the University of Nanterre. In 1982, he was appointed to the Plan Commission as head of the finance department, and later as Deputy Commissioner, a position he held until his election to the National Assembly in 1986. After his ousting in the 1993 parliamentary election
French legislative election, 1993
French legislative elections took place on 21 and 28 March 1993 to elect the 10th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majority. Without the support of the Communists, Prime minister...

s, Strauss-Kahn founded DSK Consultants, a corporate law consulting firm. Upon resigning from the Jospin government, he resumed his academic duties, teaching economics at Sciences Po from 2000 until his appointment to the IMF in 2007.

Political career

Strauss-Kahn was first an activist member of the Union of Communist Students
Union of Communist Students
The Union of Communist Students is a French student political organization, part of the Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France . It was originally founded in 1939 but dissolved after World War II. The UEC was re-created in 1956, along with the MJCF. It is independent from the French Communist...

, before joining in the 1970s the Centre d'études, de recherches et d'éducation socialiste (Center on Socialist Education Studies and Research, CERES) led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement
Jean-Pierre Chevènement
Jean-Pierre Chevènement is a French politician. He was Minister of Defense from 1988 to 1991 and Minister of the Interior from 1997 to 2000. He was a presidential candidate in 2002 and since 2008 has been a member of the Senate....

, future presidential candidate for the 2002 election
French presidential election, 2002
The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...

. There, he befriended the future Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

 Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

 (PS).

After the election of President
French presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....

 François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

 (PS) in 1981, he decided to stay out of government. He got involved in the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

 (PS), which was led by Lionel Jospin, and founded Socialisme et judaïsme ("Socialism and Judaism"). The next year, he was appointed to the Commissariat au plan (Planning Commission) as commissaire-adjoint.

In 1986 he was elected deputy
French legislative election, 1986
The French legislative elections took place on 16 March 1986 to elect the 8th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of Party-list proportional representation.Since the 1981 election of François...

 for the first time in the Haute-Savoie
Haute-Savoie
Haute-Savoie is a French department in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. It borders both Switzerland and Italy. The capital is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges and the French entrance to the Mont...

 department, and in 1988
French legislative election, 1988
French legislative elections took place on 5 June and 12 June 1988 to elect the 9th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, one month after the re-election of François Mitterrand as President of France....

 in the Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise is a French department, created in 1968 after the split of the Seine-et-Oise department and located in the Île-de-France region. In local slang, it is known as "quatre-vingt quinze" or "neuf cinq"...

 department. He became chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Finances, famously exchanging heated words with the Finance Minister Pierre Bérégovoy
Pierre Bérégovoy
Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy was a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1992 to 1993.-Early career:...

 (PS).

Minister for Industry (1991–93)

In 1991, he was nominated by Mitterrand to be Junior Minister for Industry and Foreign Trade in Édith Cresson
Édith Cresson
Édith Cresson is a French politician. She was the first and so far only woman to have held the office of Prime Minister of France.- French Prime Minister :Cresson was appointed to the prime ministerial post by President François Mitterrand on 15 May 1991...

's social-democrat government. He kept his position in Pierre Bérégovoy
Pierre Bérégovoy
Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy was a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1992 to 1993.-Early career:...

's government until the 1993 general elections
French legislative election, 1993
French legislative elections took place on 21 and 28 March 1993 to elect the 10th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majority. Without the support of the Communists, Prime minister...

.

After the electoral defeat of 1993, Strauss-Kahn was appointed by former Prime Minister Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party . He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991, during which he created the Revenu minimum d'insertion , a social minimum welfare program for indigents, and led the Matignon Accords regarding the status...

 chairman of the groupe des experts du PS ("Group of Experts of the Socialist Party"), created by Claude Allègre
Claude Allègre
Claude Allègre is a French politician and scientist.- Scientific work :The main scientific area of Claude Allègre is geochemistry....

. The same year, he founded the law firm "DSK Consultants" and worked as a business lawyer.

In 1994, Raymond Lévy, who was director of Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

, invited him to join the Cercle de l’Industrie, a French industry lobby in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, where he met the billionaire businessman Vincent Bolloré
Vincent Bolloré
Vincent Bolloré is a French industrialist, corporate raider and businessman.He heads the family investment group Bolloré and is ranked 736th richest person in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated fortune of US$1.7 billion...

 and top manager Louis Schweitzer
Louis Schweitzer (CEO)
Louis Schweitzer was the previous Chairman of Renault, first taking that post on 27 May 1992 in succession to Raymond Lévy, and he was also CEO from 1992 to 2005. He is in addition Chairman of AstraZeneca where he was appointed as a Director 11 March 2004...

; Strauss-Kahn served as secretary-general and later as vice-president. This lobbyist activity earned him criticism from the alter-globalization
Alter-globalization
Alter-globalization is the name of a social movement that supports global cooperation and interaction, but which opposes the negative effects of economic globalization, feeling that it often works to the detriment of, or does not...

 left.

In June 1995, he was elected mayor of Sarcelles
Sarcelles
Sarcelles is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles....

 and married Anne Sinclair
Anne Sinclair
Anne Sinclair is a French television and radio interviewer who hosted one of the most popular political shows for more than thirteen years on TF1, the largest European private TV channel. She is heiress to much of the fortune of her maternal grandfather, Paul Rosenberg...

, a famous television journalist working for the private channel TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...

 and in charge of a political show, Sept sur Sept. She ceased presenting this show after Strauss-Kahn's nomination as Minister of Economics and Finance in 1997 to avoid conflict of interest, while Strauss-Kahn himself would cede his place as mayor to François Pupponi in order to avoid double responsibilities.

Minister for Economics, Finances and Industry (1997–99)

In 1997, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

 (PS) appointed Strauss-Kahn as Minister for Economics, Finance and Industry, making him one of the most influential ministers in his Plural Left government.

Although it was in theory contrary to the Socialist Party's electoral program, he implemented a wide privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 program, which included among others the IPO of France Télécom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...

; he also implemented some deregulation policies in the research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

 sector. The French economy achieved an excellent performance during his term of office: the GDP increased, whereas unemployment and public debt decreased (creation of 300,000 jobs in 1998, a level not seen since 1969). This helped to strengthen his popularity and managed to win the support of former supporters of Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...

 and Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party . He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991, during which he created the Revenu minimum d'insertion , a social minimum welfare program for indigents, and led the Matignon Accords regarding the status...

, making him the leader of the reform-oriented group Socialisme et démocratie. Strauss-Kahn has been originally a proponent of the working time reduction to 35 hours
35-hour workweek
The 35-hour working week is a measure adopted first in France, in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government; it was pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry. The previous legal duration of the working week was 39 hours, which had been established by François...

, a measure implemented by Martine Aubry
Martine Aubry
Martine Aubry is a French politician. She has been the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party since November 2008 and Mayor of Lille since March 2001...

, Minister for Social Policies.

In 1998 he became one of the leaders of the Socialist Party for the regional elections in the Ile-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

 region (Paris and suburbs), which were won by the PS. But as Strauss-Kahn refused to exchange his ministry for the executive leadership of the Ile-de-France, Jean-Paul Huchon
Jean-Paul Huchon
Jean-Paul Huchon is a civil administrator and French politician. Mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine from 1994 to 2001, he is the President of the regional council for Île-de-France since 1998.- Biography :...

 became the president of the regional council.

In 1999, he was accused of corruption in two financial scandals related to Elf Aquitaine
Elf Aquitaine
Elf Aquitaine was a French oil company which merged with TotalFina to form TotalFinaElf. The new company changed its name to Total in 2003...

 and the MNEF, a student mutual health insurance
Health insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...

, and decided to resign from his ministerial office to fight these charges, in agreement with the "Balladur jurisprudence
Balladur jurisprudence
The "Balladur jurisprudence," named after former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, is an unwritten rule according to which a member of the French government who has been indicted in a judicial affair should resign from his functions...

". He was replaced by Christian Sautter
Christian Sautter
Christian Sautter is a French politician. He served as Minister for Economics, Finance, and Industry from 1999 to 2000 as part of Lionel Jospin's "Plural Left" government.-External links:*...

. He was acquitted in November 2001, and was reelected in a by-election in the Val-d'Oise.

As Minister of Economics and Finance, Strauss-Kahn succeeded in decreasing VAT
Vat
Vat or VAT may refer to:* A type of container such as a barrel, storage tank, or tub, often constructed of welded sheet stainless steel, and used for holding, storing, and processing liquids such as milk, wine, and beer...

 to 5.5% for renovation works in construction, thus supporting this activity. At the same time, he decreased the budget deficit, which was more than 3% of GDP under Alain Juppé
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...

's center-right government (1995–97). He thus prepared France's entrance in the euro zone. Strauss-Kahn also repealed the Thomas Act on hedge funds and launched the Conseil d'orientation des retraites (Orientation Council on Pensions).

Strauss-Kahn succeeded in combining followers of Jospin and Rocard in the same political movement, Socialisme et démocratie, but failed to make it more than an informal network.

In opposition

After Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

's success in the 2002 presidential election
French presidential election, 2002
The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...

 and the following Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

 (UMP)'s majority in Parliament, Strauss-Kahn was reelected deputy on 16 June 2002, in the 8th circonscription of the Val-d'Oise. He first declined in taking part in the new leadership of the PS, then in the opposition, in the 2003 congress of the party. But he joined the party's leadership again at the end of 2004, and was given overall responsibility for drawing up the Socialist programme for the 2007 presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...

, along with Martine Aubry
Martine Aubry
Martine Aubry is a French politician. She has been the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party since November 2008 and Mayor of Lille since March 2001...

 and Jack Lang
Jack Lang (French politician)
Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...

. 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.

At the same time, Strauss-Kahn co-founded the think tank À gauche en Europe (To the Left in Europe) along with Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard is a French politician, member of the Socialist Party . He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991, during which he created the Revenu minimum d'insertion , a social minimum welfare program for indigents, and led the Matignon Accords regarding the status...

. He presided jointly with Jean-Christophe Cambadélis
Jean-Christophe Cambadélis
Jean-Christophe Cambadélis is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the city of Paris, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche.-References:...

 over the Socialisme et démocratie current in the PS.

Strauss-Kahn was one of the first French politicians to enter the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...

; his blog became one of the most visited, along with Juppé's, during his stay in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

Strauss-Kahn then campaigned for the "Yes" at the French European Constitution referendum, 2005. More than 54% of the French citizens refused it, damaging Strauss-Kahn's position inside the PS, while left-wing Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...

, who had campaigned for a "No" vote, was reinforced.

Strauss-Kahn sought the nomination for the Socialist candidacy in the 2007 presidential election. His challengers were former prime minister Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...

 and Ségolène Royal
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Ségolène Royal , known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party...

, the president of the Poitou-Charentes
Poitou-Charentes
Poitou-Charentes is an administrative region in central western France comprising four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. The regional capital is Poitiers.-Politics:The regional council is composed of 56 members...

 region. Strauss-Kahn finished second, behind Royal. On 13 April 2007, Strauss-Kahn called for an "anti-Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

 front" between the two rounds of the forthcoming presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...

. Following Ségolène Royal's defeat, Strauss-Kahn criticized the PS's strategy and its chairman, François Hollande
François Hollande
François Gérard Georges Hollande is a French politician. From 1997 to 2008, he was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party. He has also served as a Deputy of the National Assembly of France, representing the first constituency of Corrèze, since 1997. He previously represented that seat...

. Along with Fabius, he then resigned from the party's national directorate in June 2007. Strauss-Kahn had been widely expected to seek the Socialist nomination for President of France in 2012, and was considered an early favorite.

IMF Managing Director (2007–11)

On 10 July 2007, Strauss-Kahn became the consensus European nominee to be the head of the IMF, with the personal support of President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

 (member of the right UMP
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

 party). Former Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka
Marek Belka
Marek Marian Belka is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, former Director of the International Monetary Fund's European Department and current Head of National Bank of Poland.- Biography :...

 withdrew his candidacy as it was opposed by the majority of European countries. Some critics alleged that Sarkozy proposed Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF to deprive the Socialist Party of one of its more popular figures.

Strauss-Kahn became the front runner in the race to become Managing Director of the IMF, with the support of the 27-nation European Union, the United States, China and most of Africa. On 28 September 2007, the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

's 24 executive directors selected him as the new managing director. Strauss-Kahn replaced Spain's Rodrigo Rato
Rodrigo Rato
Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo is a Spanish political figure who served in the government of Spain as Minister of the Economy from 1996 to 2004; a member of the conservative People's Party , he was also First Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004...

.
On 30 September 2007, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was formally named as the new head of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 (IMF). The only other nominee was the Czech Josef Tošovský
Josef Tošovský
Josef Tošovský is a Czech economist and was governor of Czech National Bank from 1993 to 2000. From 16 December 1997 to 17 July 1998 he was the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in a caretaker government.Tošovský graduated from the University of Economics, Prague...

, a late candidate proposed by Russia. Strauss-Kahn said: "I am determined to pursue without delay the reforms needed for the IMF to make financial stability serve the international community, while fostering growth and employment".
Under Strauss-Kahn the IMF's pursuit of financial stability has included calls for a possible replacement of the dollar as the world's reserve currency. An IMF report from January 2011 called for a stronger role for Special Drawing Rights
Special Drawing Rights
Special Drawing Rights are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund . Not a currency, SDRs instead represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged...

 (SDR) in order to stabilize the global financial system. According to the report, an expanded role for SDRs could help to stabilize the international monetary system. Furthermore, for most countries (except for those using the US dollar as their currency) there would be several advantages in switching the pricing of certain assets, such as oil and gold, from dollars to SDRs.
For some commentators that amounts to a call for a "new world currency that would challenge the dominance of the dollar".

In 2008, the IMF Board appointed an independent investigator following allegations that Strauss-Kahn had had an affair with a subordinate, Piroska Nagy, who was married at the time to economist Mario Blejer
Mario Blejer
Mario Blejer is an Argentine economist and Central Bank official.-Life and times:Blejer was born in Córdoba, Argentina, in 1948. He enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and graduated cum laude with degrees in Economics and Jewish History in 1970, as well as with a Master's Degree in...

. Nagy alleged that Strauss-Kahn had used his position to coerce her into the affair. She was later made redundant and Strauss-Kahn assisted her in getting a new job. The IMF board issued the findings of the investigation; while noting that the affair was "regrettable and reflected a serious error of judgment on the part of the managing director", the board cleared Strauss-Kahn of harassment
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...

, favoritism or abuse of power
Abuse of Power
Abuse of Power is a novel written by radio talk show host Michael Savage.- Plot :Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary...

, and indicated that he would remain in his post. Strauss-Kahn issued a public apology for the affair. Le Journal du Dimanche
Le Journal du Dimanche
Le Journal du Dimanche is a French weekly newspaper. It is only published on Sundays.-History:The newspaper was created by Pierre_Lazareffin 1948. It now belongs to the Lagardère Group, through Hachette Filipacchi Médias...

dubbed him "le grand séducteur" (the Great Seducer).

Strauss-Kahn made comments that could be perceived as critical of global financial actors, in an interview for a documentary about the late-2000s financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...

, Inside Job
Inside Job (film)
Inside Job is a 2010 documentary film about the late-2000s financial crisis directed by Charles H. Ferguson. The film is described by Ferguson as being about "the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry and the consequences of that systemic corruption." In five...

(2010). He said he had attended a dinner organised by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Henry Paulson
Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr. is an American banker who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.-Early life and family:...

 in which several CEOs of 'the biggest banks in the U.S' had admitted they (or perhaps bankers in general) were 'too greedy' and bore part of the responsibility for the crisis. They said the government "'should regulate more, because we are too greedy, we can't avoid it.'"
Strauss-Kahn said he warned the officials of a number of departments of the U.S. government of an impending crisis. He also said: "At the end of the day, the poorest – as always – pay the most."

Referring to his diplomatic efforts to secure IMF aid for Europe following the 2010 sovereign debt crisis
2010 European sovereign debt crisis
From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning some European states, intensifying in early 2010 and thereafter.....

, economist Simon Johnson
Simon Johnson (economist)
Simon Johnson is a British American economist. He is the 'Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He has held a wide variety of academic and policy-related positions, including...

 described Strauss-Kahn as "Metternich with a BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...

". In May 2011, referring to the IMF's change of heart in favour of progressive rather than neoliberal values, Joseph Stiglitz wrote that Strauss-Kahn had proved himself to be a "sagacious leader" of the institution.
Following Strauss-Kahn's arrest for sexual assault in New York, economist Eswar Prasad
Eswar Prasad
Eswar Prasad holds the New Century Chair in International Economics. He is the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution....

 said that should he be forced to step down, the IMF "will find it hard to find as effective and skilful an advocate for keeping the institution central to the global monetary system".

John Lipsky
John Lipsky
John Phillip Lipsky is an American economist. He was the acting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from May to July 2011. He assumed the post of Acting Managing Director after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May 2011 accused of sexual assault...

, the IMF’s second-in-command, was named acting Managing Director on 15 May 2011.

Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF on 18 May 2011, after being arrested by NY police on 15 May over allegations of sexual assault.

Timeline

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, 2007–2011 (resignation – sexual assault case)

Governmental functions
  • Minister of Industry and Foreign trade, 1991–1993.
  • Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, 1997–1999 (resignation).


Electoral mandates
  • Member of the National Assembly of France for Val d'Oise, 1986–1991 (becoming minister in 1991). Reelected in 1997, was minister 2001–2007 (resigned on becoming Managing Director of the IMF in 2007). Elected in 1986, reelected in 1988, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2007.


Regional Council
  • Regional councillor of Ile-de-France
    Île-de-France (région)
    Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

    , 1998–2001 (resignation).


Municipal Council
  • Mayor of Sarcelles
    Sarcelles
    Sarcelles is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles....

    , 1995–1997 (resignation).
  • Deputy-mayor of Sarcelles
    Sarcelles
    Sarcelles is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles....

    , 1997–2007 (resigned on becoming Managing Director of the IMF in 2007). Reelected in 2001.
  • Municipal councillor of Sarcelles
    Sarcelles
    Sarcelles is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles....

    , 1989–2007 (resigned on becoming Managing Director of the IMF in 2007). Reelected in 1995, 2001.


Agglomeration community Council
  • President of the Agglomeration community of Val de France, 2002–2007 (resigned on becoming Managing Director of the IMF in 2007).
  • Member of the Agglomeration community of Val de France, 2002–2007 (resigned on becoming Managing Director of the IMF in 2007).

Personal life

Strauss-Kahn has four daughters, one of whom is by his second wife, Brigitte Guillemette, whom he married in 1984. He has been married to his third wife, French journalist Anne Sinclair
Anne Sinclair
Anne Sinclair is a French television and radio interviewer who hosted one of the most popular political shows for more than thirteen years on TF1, the largest European private TV channel. She is heiress to much of the fortune of her maternal grandfather, Paul Rosenberg...

, since 1991. Sinclair is the heiress to part of the fortune of her maternal grandfather, Paul Rosenberg. The couple have a house in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., two apartments in Paris, and a riad in Marrakesh, Morocco. He is an accomplished chess player, and he enjoys practising either chess or maths problems for hours every day.

New York v. Strauss-Kahn

On 14 May 2011, a 32 year old maid, Nafissatou Diallo, at the Sofitel New York Hotel
Sofitel New York Hotel
Sofitel New York is a boutique hotel on West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, owned and managed by the Sofitel corporation. It lies about north of Bryant Park and New York Public Library and next to the New York Yacht Club. The hotel is inspired by French traditions in...

 alleged that Strauss-Kahn had sexually assaulted her after she entered his suite.

Strauss-Kahn was formally indicted on 18 May and granted 1 million bail, plus a 5 million bond, the following day. He was ordered to remain confined to a New York apartment under guard. A semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...

 sample was found on the maid's shirt, and on May 24 it was reported that DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 tests showed a match to a DNA sample submitted by Strauss-Kahn. He was arraigned on June 6, 2011, and pled not guilty. On June 30, 2011, the New York Times reported that the case was on the "verge of collapse" because of problems with the credibility of the alleged victim, who had, according to sources within the NYPD, repeatedly lied to the police since making her first statement. According to prosecutors, the accuser admitted that she lied to a grand jury about the events surrounding the alleged attack. Diallo claims that the translator on June 28, 2011, misunderstood her words. Strauss-Khan was released from house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...

 on 1 July.

After completing a lengthy investigation, prosecutors filed a motion to drop all charges against Strauss-Kahn, stating that they were not convinced of his culpability beyond a reasonable doubt due to serious issues in the complainant's credibility and inconclusive physical evidence, and therefore could not ask a jury to believe in it. The motion was granted by judge Obus in a hearing on August 23, 2011. In a TV interview in September, Strauss-Kahn admitted that his sexual encounter with the maid was “a moral fault” and described it as “inappropriate” but that it “did not involve violence, constraint or aggression”.

Works

  • Inflation et partage des surplus; le cas des ménages. Cujas, 1975. (with André Babeau and André Masson
    André Masson (economist)
    André Masson is a French economist. His positions include director of research at CNRS and director of studies at School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.-References:...

    ).
  • Économie de la famille et accumulation patrimoniale. Cujas. 1977.
  • La Richesse des Français- Epargne, Plus-value/Héritage. (with André Babeau). Paris: PUF, 1977. Collection « L'économiste » ed. Pierre Tabatoni. Enquête sur la fortune des Français.
  • Pierre Bérégovoy
    Pierre Bérégovoy
    Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy was a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1992 to 1993.-Early career:...

    : une volonté de réforme au service de l'économie 1984–1993.
    Cheff, 2000. (with Christian Sautter
    Christian Sautter
    Christian Sautter is a French politician. He served as Minister for Economics, Finance, and Industry from 1999 to 2000 as part of Lionel Jospin's "Plural Left" government.-External links:*...

    )
  • La Flamme et la Cendre, Grasset, 2002, (ISBN 2-01-279122-0)
  • Lettre ouverte aux enfants d’Europe, Grasset, 2004, (ISBN 2-246-68251-7)
  • Pour l'égalité réelle: Eléments pour un réformisme radical, Note de la Fondation Jean Jaurès, 2004
  • DVD pour le Oui à la constitution, 2005
  • 365 jours, journal contre le renoncement, Grasset, 2006

External links


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