Towards a Post-radical Front National? Patterns of Ideological Change and dédiabolisation on the French Radical Right

Abstract

Academic analyses of the French radical right tend to converge in their assessment that, since Marine Le Pen took over the campaign management of the 2007 presidential election and succeeded her father as party president, the Front National has undergone a path of image change and ideological deradicalization or, at least, that most radical and polemic stances have been toned down. Demonstrating that ideological change must be understood as a complex and multiform process, this article examines whether the dédiabolisation preached by Marine Le Pen has led to the emergence of a post-radical Front National. The analysis is based on a qualitative content analysis of campaign speeches and programmatic documents produced between 2007 and June 2012. The results reveal that, rather than an all-encompassing deradicalization, the FN has undergone a process of selective moderation, issue reframing and integration of republican lieux de mémoire accompanied by a radicalization of its programmatic responses to European integration.