The death of Brian Mulroney gives rise to the expression of varied memories. His supporters remember his notorious feats of arms: the free trade agreement with the United States, his desire to integrate Quebec with “honor and enthusiasm”, his fight against apartheid in Africa from South. His opponents point out, among other things, the social impacts of his economic policies and his ethical laxity.
Nevertheless, sympathy for the former prime minister is widespread. Carried out in the week following the announcement of his death, a poll indicates that 83% of Canadians have a positive opinion of the Mulroney years.
Sympathy post mortem does not fail to surprise. After all, Brian Mulroney resigned amid controversy in 1993, and his party subsequently experienced the worst electoral defeat in its history. However, it is not exclusive to the former prime minister: the deaths of René Lévesque, Robert Bourassa, Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jacques Parizeau have generated similar episodes testifying to a benevolent memory.
Why do these favorable feelings appear when a political leader dies? They arise from a singular phenomenon of political culture: nostalgia.
The political field is conducive to nostalgia for three reasons. The first refers to the nature of the political game. Politics is made up of struggles for the exercise of power. To make gains, it is important to mobilize the greatest number of actors around your cause, to form alliances, to reduce rivalries, and to observe tactical neutrality.
The political game thus implies, on the part of those who engage in it, a considerable investment of their energies and their emotions. This investment is condensed into brief times, those of the event, which are easily memorable.
Indeed, the excitement of combat, the exaltation following victory and the disappointment following defeat are all sources of vivid feelings which mark the journey of individuals. The latter then have the impression of participating in strong moments in history and of communing with the entire political community. In retrospect, the reminder of the vigor of these past feelings nourishes nostalgia among those who experienced them, like the episodes of the failure of the Meech Lake accord or the referendums.
The second reason concerns the promotion of authority and legitimacy in politics. In order to establish their authority among citizens and propagate belief in their legitimacy, political institutions, primarily those of the State, must assume their permanence over time. From then on, they transcend the lives of the individuals who manage them in an ephemeral way.
At the time of the death of political leaders such as prime ministers, they join the memorial gallery of Great Men whose necessarily positive contribution must be highlighted and their memory valued. Manifesting itself at the time of funeral ceremonies, nostalgia then becomes an instrument to legitimize the authority of institutions and maintain their ascendancy over the political community. “The king is dead, long live the king,” they used to say in the past.
The last reason motivating nostalgia concerns our own finitude. To see an individual disappear who has been part of the horizon of our daily life for several years is to perceive the signs of our future absence, since we will all die one day. Good or bad, this reference which has marked our time — aren’t we talking about the “Mulroney years”? —, this landmark which no longer exists testifies to the ephemeral nature of what constitutes our lives.
As a result, the erasure of the reference causes in us an influx of nostalgia. By evoking the memory of past years, we seek to highlight the elements that have made sense in our existence: our political battles and our daily struggles, our loves and our hatreds, our victories and our defeats, our joys and our sorrows.
Nostalgia becomes the instrument of our quest, it allows us to believe somewhat in the permanence of our actions and actions. Hence this benevolent view of deceased political leaders: beyond the simple respect owed to the dead, the reminder of a benevolent memory aims to guarantee us our own immortality.