Henri Alustaine (Napoleon's World)

Henri Alustaine (born June 19, 1930) is a retired French civil servant who served most famously as Minister of State from February 2, 1997 to February 2, 2002. Alustaine had previously served as Minister of Trade and Industry from 1991-1997 and as Minister of Health from 1988-1991, with a variety of deputy positions throughout the bureaucracy beforehand.

His appointment was viewed as a way to break the static, ossified leadership of the State Ministry with an "outsider" who nevertheless enjoyed experience working in the Byzantine cinquieme domaine of the bureaucracy in the wake of the Siamese War and Emperor Albert II's displeasure with Alexandre Neveshkin's autocratic tendencies, and as a signal that the bureaucracy would now focus it's energy and attention on domestic concerns in appointing a man who had never held a foreign affairs or security portfolio. Alustaine was also a popular choice as he did not hail from the Club Parisien that had been perceived to have dominated French policy since the 1970s - he was the first State Minister to not have attended the University of Paris and made his way up in the associated social clubs since Francois Ramon, had been born and raised in Charleroi and had served in the Marine Imperial until he was thirty-six as an officer.

Alustaine was unpopular with State Ministry holdovers but shrank the Ministry's leadership team and re-professionalized the service; he was in good standing with both Albert II and the public for most of his tenure. However, the French economy stagnated and sank into recession late in his tenure, and as he approached five years in office Alustaine stepped down in mutual consent with the Imperial Office. Alustaine served as an informal advisor to Maurice Napoleon I during the early years of his reign, though his clashes with inner-circle advisors led him to suspend this arrangement out of frustration and he remains retired in Nantes to this day.