Twenty-five years ago, if you had said France would one day have a thriving network of conservative institutions—training young leaders, shaping national media, forming think tanks, launching journalism schools—most people would have laughed. Or worse, dismissed you as delusional.
Back then, the conservative movement in France was virtually nonexistent. There were no leadership institutes, no serious media platforms for free thinkers, no organized civil society operating outside the left’s dominance. Politics leaned center-right at best, but the cultural, academic, and journalistic institutions were owned—undisputedly—by the left.
That’s the landscape Alexandre Pesey walked into. And he didn’t flinch.
Instead of complaining, he created. Instead of waiting for someone else to act, he did. He looked at the long game and made a decision that would define his life: he would build the future France needed—even if he had to start from scratch.
A Vision Born from Adversity
As a young man, Alexandre visited the United States and witnessed firsthand what the American conservative movement had accomplished after the Goldwater defeat in the 1960s. He studied the growth of think tanks, training institutes, donor networks, and advocacy groups that eventually helped elect Ronald Reagan and reshape American civil society.
He asked himself a simple but dangerous question: If they could do it in America, why not in France?
When he returned home, that question became a mission.
He and his wife began bringing small groups of French students to the U.S. to see it for themselves. These trips were more than academic exercises—they were ignition points. These young leaders saw what was possible when freedom was backed by infrastructure, discipline, and bold leadership.
So Alexandre started building.
The Castle, the Critics, and the Breakthrough
It didn’t start with millions of euros or massive institutional support. It started with borrowed belief. A graduate from one of his programs introduced him to the owner of a historic castle—who gave Alexandre the space, rent-free, to launch his first training seminars.
His critics told him no one would come.
They were wrong.
Sixteen brave students came the first year. Sixty the next. Today, over 1,500 students attend trainings through the Institut de Formation Politique each year, with 500 new entrants annually. That alone would be an incredible legacy—but Alexandre didn’t stop there.
He saw that the media landscape was entirely captured by the left. So he built a journalism institute. It started as weekend training and grew into something much bigger. In 2023, Alexandre and his team bought the oldest journalism school in the world—École Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris—and relaunched it to train 400 new students per year under a philosophy of independence, excellence, and truth.
He saw that civil society needed structure. So he helped revive the French Taxpayers Association, one of the country’s oldest pressure groups, and used creative communication—including a short film that reached 3.5 million people with just €100 in promotion—to reignite public awareness around debt and government overreach.
And yes, he was told every step of the way, “This won’t work in France.”
And yes, it worked anyway.
Going Big Means Building Deep
What Alexandre understands—and what so many others miss—is that movements don’t last if they’re just reactions. They last when they’re built.
From nothing, he built donor networks (now over 500,000 supporters), training institutes, media pipelines, and national influence. He built trust, credibility, and long-term infrastructure. He didn’t just aim to win the next news cycle—he aimed to raise a generation of leaders who would shape the next century.
And all of it—all of it—started with one man saying: Let’s go big in France.
The Lesson for the Rest of Us
You don’t need permission to make a difference.
You don’t need perfect conditions to get started.
You don’t need unanimous support to build something lasting.
You need a cause, a clear vision, and a willingness to lead—even when the odds are stacked against you.
Alexandre Pesey is proof that the Going Big! mindset transcends borders, languages, and cultures. It’s a call to action that resonates from Paris to Peoria: If you see something broken, fix it. If your movement doesn’t exist, create it. If people tell you it’s impossible, keep going.
Because the future belongs to those who dare to build it.
