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The sovereign debt crisis, which has become more acute in recent years, has revived the debate regarding the market dictatorship. This debate carries a long list of criticisms: it is argued that the sole goal of the markets is speculation; they are short-sighted and interested in immediate results; they base their decisions on ratings issued by irresponsible agencies and they put an inadmissible pressure on borrowing countries. To put it briefly, they undermine democracy. Most of these criticisms do not stand up to scrutiny. They essentially result from governments’ need to find a scapegoat to justify sacrifices in the eyes of their reluctant citizens. These sacrifices seem all the more unjust to public opinion as they aim to reimburse a debt for which citizens do not feel individually responsible. The fact remains, however, that by adopting unsustainable budget policies, the states have put themselves in a position of dependency on the markets, thereby leading to a situation where the supervisory roles have been reversed.