The National Front in France: The Emergence of an Extreme Right Protest Movement

Abstract

The rise of extremist movements with a cultural or religious edge to them poses a basic challenge to liberal democratic societies because of their intransigent opposition to tolerant pluralism. The political agenda of these movements often harkens back to the preindustrial past, from which, taking advantage no doubt of the very openness of political democracy, they cull out and use unresolved issues of identity, ethnicity, and religion in their pursuit of power. By successfully presenting themselves as the exponents of popular action and advocates of issues not articulated by major parties, they undermine the authority of established intermediate structures such as political parties, interest groups, and the media. Even more serious, their very presence in the midst of functioning democracies raises a cruel dilemma of how far to tolerate the intolerant without seriously compromising the institutions of free speech and full freedom of political action and association and of where to draw the line between the values of ethnic identity and exclusiveness, on the one hand, and liberty and human rights, which are the essence of liberalism, on the other. Though postwar Europe has experienced political movements at both extremes of the ideological spectrum, the activities of the extreme right have caused greater Concern because of their temporal proximity and ideological affinity to a past with which Europe has not yet fully come to terms. While the presence of an extreme right movement is by no means unique to France, the French case is of particular interest because of the remarkable electoral achievements of the National Front and its links with the bitter legacies of Vichy.' The objective of this article is to bring together the evidence associated with the rise of the National Front in France, drawing on public opinion on significant political issues, aggregate data, and information on its territorial implantation. This is supplemented with a detailed study of the issue of the Islamic headscarf in French state schools and the electoral constituency of Dreux, which many consider to be the key to the fortunes of the National Front. An attempt is made to assess the implications of the rise of the National Front and the factors leading to it for the overall context of French politics.