Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a well-known economist, lawyer, and politician. He was appointed as the head of the IMF in 2007 and has received favorable reviews for his performance. He has been involved in academia and politics, including serving as the economy and finance minister for France. He implemented neoliberal policies, which led to a booming French economy but also earned him criticism from some members of the Socialist Party. He was accused of corruption but was eventually acquitted. He also ran for the presidency of France but lost the nomination.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), having assumed the post at the end of 2007. He is a well-known economist, a successful politician with the Socialist Party in France and a lawyer. Dominique Strauss-Kahn is generally positioned closer to the center than many in the left-wing French Socialist Party, allowing him to take more conservative and moderate positions and opening up a wide range of avenues for him, including work at the IMF.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was born in 1949 and studied both politics and economics at university, earning a PhD and a law degree. At school he was a member of the Communist Students’ Union, and later joined the Center for Studies and Research on Socialist Education (CERES). It was while with CERES he became friends with Lionel Jospin who would later be Prime Minister under the Socialist Party.
In the late 1970s Dominique Strauss-Kahn began teaching economics at the college level. From then on he would move in and out of academia, taking breaks to devote himself heavily to politics, and then occasionally returning to the university to teach. In the early 1980s he was actively involved in the Socialist Party, led by his he friend Lionel Jospin. In the late 1980s he was elected to his first public office and went on to assume the role of chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
In the early 1990s Dominique Strauss-Kahn was appointed undersecretary for industry and foreign trade, and would from then on be politically involved in most governments over the next fifteen years. He became mayor of Sarcelles in 1995 and in 1997 he took over the post of economy and finance minister for France under his friend Lionel Jospin, then prime minister.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn implemented a number of neoliberal policies during her tenure as minister, including an extensive privatization programme. This earned him the ire of some members of the Socialist Party, but his programs ultimately led to a booming French economy and widespread public support. Dominique Strauss-Kahn stepped down as minister in 1999, following allegations of corruption. He spent the next two years fighting the charges and was eventually acquitted.
Over the next few years, he became even more involved in leading the Socialist Party in France and helped craft strategy for the 2007 election. In 2005, he announced that he himself would seek the Socialist Party nomination to run for the presidency of France. Dominique Strauss-Kahn lost his nomination and was named leader of the IMF in 2007. He was up against only one other candidate, Josef Tosovsky, a Czech. Dominique Strauss-Kahn had widespread support, including from the United States, the entire European Union and China, and was appointed head of the IMF in late 2007.
Since taking over, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has garnered relatively favorable reviews for her performance. An investigation was launched in 2008 following allegations that he had been having an affair with a senior IMF economist. Although it was determined that he was involved in the affair, the board found that he was not guilty of abusing his position, and remained in place of him.
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