Les faux-semblants du Front national

The Scandal of Women’s Emancipation. Femonationalism, Right-Wing Sexual Politics, and Anti-Feminism

“…This political strategy needs to be understood as a way of gaining legitimacy for illegitimate politics. The far right is very conscious of their own strategy and in France has termed it "undemonizing", a successful political strategy of mainstream their hateful positions in society and become eligible for larger parts of the voters (Dézé 2015). The far right tries to profit from feminism's legitimacy and success.…”

The rise of the post-religious right: Christianism and secularism in the French Rassemblement National

“…Marine Le Pen recognised this, and, once in office, drove a notably different public course. In her strategy of ‘ dédiabolisation ’, she cleansed the FN national bureau of her father’s old grandees and promoted a new generation of politicians who had no personal connection to the party’s roots in Vichy France or the Pieds Noirs’ Algeria but distinguished themselves through an air of respectability and their loyalty to Marine (Dézé, 2015). On a policy level, Marine Le Pen embraced economically ‘left-wing’ positions favouring protectionism and a strong welfare state (Perrineau, 2017).…”

“…Although Dézé argues that this was a dédiabolisation in style only and that the FN had not actually ‘modified its doctrinal software in a substantial manner’ (Dézé, 2015: p. 46), election results show that the strategy was highly effective in attracting new voters. Whereas Jean-Marie Le Pen’s electorate in the 2002 presidential election consisted primarily of elderly and male members of the ‘petite bourgeoisie’, in 2012 his daughter had made significant inroads amongst working-class voters, where the FN was now by far the most popular party (31%), women (+2 percentage points), the 18–24 year olds (+5 percentage points), the 25–34 year olds (+8 percentage points) and the irreligious (+5%) (Mayer, 2017; Perrineau, 2017).…”

The Sexual Politics of National Secularisms in Sweden and France: A Cross-Confessional Comparison

“…The politics of acceptance towards neo-Nazi structures is partly responsible for this explosion of violence as well as the electoral success of the Front National party that made it to the second round of the presidential election in 2017. It made neo-Nazi positions discussable in the media, a process that current party leader Marine Le Pen herself has called "dediabolization", in taking up a political strategy consisting of a discursive change to avoid open hate speech in FN campaigning in order to gain political power (Igounet 2016;Dézé 2015).…”