The Entrepreneurial National Front in France

Abstract

The National Front and its leader Jean-Marie Le Pen often receive credit for introducing the professional organization and the strategic model for the successful radical right-wing party of the late twentieth century. Le Pen was the first to turn the corner moving the radical right wing in Europe away from its fascist historical ties towards more politically correct and socially acceptable forms. This chapter considers key factors in the political life of the National Front since its founding in 1972 that have proven instrumental in its ability to have an impact on French politics and society. Using evidence from personal interviews, documentary sources, archival research, and secondary source material, the chapter examines evidence where the influence of the National Front has been manifest. First, the propositions from chapter 3 are evaluated for their explanatory power in the French case. Second, the model developed in chapter 4 for cross-national radical right-wing party influence is applied to the French case to determine how well it accounts for French radical right-wing influence. Finally, data is applied to measure the impact of the French radical right on three levels of impact analysis: agenda, institutional, and policy.KeywordsParty SystemParty OrganizationLegislative InitiativeIssue SpaceLegislative ElectionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.