Overview

A comprehensive historical study of the extreme right in France from the Vichy regime to the present day. The Front National is France's third largest party and the most significant extreme-right force in Europe; its leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, contested the second round of the 2002 presidential election with 5.5 million votes. This study examines this resurgence of French right-wing extremism in historical perspective, tracing the political lineage of Le Pen and the FN through key figures and movements on the French extreme right since 1940. Part I devotes chapters to the Vichy regime, the aftermath of Occupation, the Poujadist movement, the Algerian War, and extreme-right ideology and activism in the 1960s and 1970s. Part II analyses the electoral rise of the FN, its evolving programme and exploitation of salient issues, the geography and sociology of its vote, and its impact on political culture in contemporary France. The FN, it is argued, represents both the latest manifestation of a long tradition of right-wing radicalism and a complex new phenomenon within the changing social and political dynamics of France today.

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9780415097550

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Reviews

'...Shields has without doubt produced an excellent all round reference text, which is extremely well researched. In terms of a history of the FN in English, it may now certainly lay claim to being one of the best if not the reference text on the subject.'<br>Tim Peace, European University Institute<br><br>'...a truly original, scholarly and valuable book on the subject which significantly enriches French Studies.'<br>Roger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Author Information

J.G. Shields is Reader in French Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the first holder of the American Political Science Association's Stanley Hoffmann Award (2007) for his writing on French politics.

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