Dominique Strauss-Kahn oder die Verknüpfung männlicher mit neoliberaler Gewalt

Abstract

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was the favourite candidate for the French presidential elections in 2012 and director of the International Monetary Fund until May 2011. For some time now, however, he stands accused of diverse forms of sexual violence by a number of women: an economist colleague, a journalist who interviewed him, a room maid in a luxury hotel. These incidents of violence provide us with an occasion to reflect on the fact that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the 'star economist of the Socialist Party, has consistently promoted extremely liberal economic policies, and, as director of the IMF, forced many countries into drastic measures of structural adjustment and budgetary rigour. By analysing the concrete daily actions of a man at the top of this power structure, this article demonstrates how male sexual violence against women and economic violence enforced by the IMF, with their respective forms of impunity, are systemically linked in contemporary neoliberal global capitalism.