Abstract
The French Front National (FN) constitutes one of the most successful populist radical right parties in Western Europe (Mudde 2007: 41). Since the mid-1980s, the FN has established itself as a significant force in French politics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Le Lab Politique (2015).
- 2.
A veteran member of the FN, Bruno Gollnisch became the leader of the orthodox faction within the party in the early 2000s. After Jean-Marie Le Pen stepped down, he was opposed to Marine Le Pen’s strategy of normalization and was defeated in the 2011 leadership election.
- 3.
The conception of the French Communist ‘counter-society’ was developed by Kriegel (1968), describing the PCF as a separate community characterized by its network of flanking organizations, links with labour unions and active mass membership.
- 4.
This refers to a political strategy in which an organization pushes its members and supporters to join another, typically larger, organization for the purpose of expanding the former’s influence.
- 5.
The FN congress took place in Tours (15 and 16 January 2011). Party members voted by mail. During the same congress, party delegates also elected the central committee consisting of 100 members.
- 6.
Jean-Marie Le Pen announced his resignation on 12 April 2010, during a meeting of the FN Bureau Politique.
- 7.
Marine Le Pen, inauguration speech, FN Party Congress 16 January 2011.
- 8.
New party statutes were approved by the political bureau in June 2015 and backed by 94 per cent of the membership vote in July 2015. However, these statutes are currently suspended, pending legal decisions after Jean-Marie Le Pen’s suspension was cancelled by a French court on 2 July 2015.
- 9.
BMFTV (2015).
- 10.
Le Parisien (2015).
- 11.
Le Figaro (2015).
- 12.
- 13.
According to Janda (1980), name changes are indicators of a lack of party institutionalization (p. 22/23).
- 14.
A similar scheme, considering the Italian cases, has been proposed by Lanzone (2015).
- 15.
Parti socialiste (2015). The motions of orientation are formally planned in the party statute (Title 3, Chapter 1).
- 16.
Also, the centre-oriented party, Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem) [Democratic Movement], provides for primary elections to choose the candidate for the presidential election (Statute, Art. 19). The same possibility is provided in the UDI statutes.
- 17.
In the case of the UMP (Statute, Art. 34), the decision has been announced in the 2014 statute. The statute of Les Républicains is not yet officially available.
References
Bachelot, Carole. 2011. Le parti socialiste, la longue marche de la présidentialisation. In Le partis politiques français, ed. Pierre Bréchon, 103–127. Paris: La Documentation française.
Bergounioux, Alain, and Gérard Grunberg. 2005. L’ambition et le remords. Les socialistes français et le pouvoir (1905–2005). Paris: Fayard.
Betz, Hans-Georg. 1998. Introduction. In The New Politics of the Right: Neo Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies, eds. Hans-Georg Betz and Stefan Immerfall. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Birenbaum, Guy. 1992. Le Front National en politique. Paris: Editions Balland.
Birenbaum, Guy, and Bastien François. 1989. Unité et diversité des dirigeants frontistes. In Le Front national à découvert, eds. Nonna Mayer and Pascal Perrineau, 83–106. Paris: Presses de la FNSP.
Evans, Jocelyn, and Gilles Ivaldi. 2013. The 2012 French Presidential Elections: The Inevitable Alternation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harmel, Robert, and Lars Svåsand. 1993. Party Leadership and Party Institutionalisation: Three Phases of Development. West European Politics 16(2): 67–88.
Ivaldi, Gilles. 1996. Conservation, Revolution and Protest: A Case Study in the Political Cultures of the French National Front’s Members and Sympathizers. Electoral Studies 15(3): 339–362.
———. 1998. The National Front: The Making of an Authoritarian Party. In The Organization of Political Parties in Southern Europe, eds. Piero Ignazi and Colette Ysmal, 43–69. Westport: Greenwood-Praeger.
———. 2003. The Front National Split: Party System Change and Electoral Prospects. In The French Party System: Continuity and Change, ed. Jocelyn Evans, 137–154. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
———. 2016a. No Longer a Pariah? The Front National and the French Party System. In Absorbing the Blow, eds. Steven Wolinetz and Andrej Zaslove. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Ivaldi, Gilles. 2016b. A New Course for the French Radical-Right? The Front National and “de-demonization”. In Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe. Into the Mainstream?, eds. Tjitske Akkerman, Sarah de Lange, and Matthijs Rooduijn. Routledge, 231–253. Abingdon: forthcoming.
Janda, Kenneth. 1980. Political Parties: A Cross-National Survey. New York: The Free Press.
Katz, Richard S., and Peter Mair. 1993. The Evolution of Party Organizations in Europe: The Three Faces of Party Organization. American Review of Politics 14(1): 593–618.
Knapp, Andrew. 2002. France: Never a Golden Age. In Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, eds. Paul Webb, David M. Farrell, and Ian Holliday, 107–150. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kriegel, Annie. 1968. Les Communistes français. Essai d’ethnographie politique. Paris : Editions du Seuil.
Lanzone, Maria E. 2014. The Post-modern Populism in Italy: The Case of the Five Star Movement. In The Many Faces of Populism: Current Perspectives, eds. Dwayne Woods and Barbara Wajnert, 53–78. Bingley: Emerald Press Group.
Lanzone, Maria E 2015. Il MoVimento Cinque Stelle. Il popolo di Grillo dal web al parlamento. Novi Ligure: Edizioni Epoké.
Meguid, Bonnie M. 2008. Competition between Unequals: Strategies and Electoral Fortunes in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mény, Yves, and Yves Surel. 2002. The Constitute Ambiguity of Populism. In Democracies and the Populist Challenge, eds. Yves Mény and Yves Surel. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mudde, Cas. 2007. Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Panebianco, Angelo. 1988. Political Parties: Organization and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pedahzur, Ami, and Avraham Brichta. 2002. The Institutionalization of Extreme Right-Wing Charismatic Parties: A Paradox? Party Politics 8(1): 31–49.
Perrineau, Pascal. 2014. La France au Front. Essai sur l’avenir du Front national. Paris: Fayard.
Poguntke, Thomas, Susan Scarrow, and Paul Webb. 2015. Political Party Database, http://www.politicalpartydb.org. Accessed 2 October 2015.
Rydgren, Jens. 2005. Is Extreme Right-Wing Populism Contagious? Explaining the Emergence of a New Party Family. European Journal of Political Research 44(3): 413–437.
Stockemer, Daniel, and Abdelkarim Amengay. 2015. The Voters of the FN under Jean Marie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen: Continuity or Change? French Politics 13: 370–390.
Zaslove, Andrej. 2008. Exclusion, Community, and a Populist Political Economy: The Radical Right as an Anti-globalization Movement. Comparative European Politics 6(2): 169–189.
News Media
BMFTV. 2015. Jean-Marie Le Pen sur les chambres à gaz: “Ce que j’ai dit correspondait à ma pensée”, 2 April 2015, http://www.bfmtv.com/politique/jean-marie-le-pen-persiste-sur-les-chambres-a-gaz-873716.html. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Le Figaro. 2015. Seule la moitié des sympathisants FN approuve l’exclusion de Jean-Marie Le Pen, 23 August 2015, http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2015/08/23/01002-20150823ARTFIG00188-seule-la-moitie-des-sympathisants-fn-approuve-l-exclusion-de-jean-marie-le-pen.php. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Le Lab Politique. 2015. Viré du FN, Jean-Marie Le Pen va quand même financer la campagne des régionales de certains candidats frontistes, 27 August 2015, http://lelab.europe1.fr/vire-du-fn-jean-marie-le-pen-va-quand-meme-financer-la-campagne-des-regionales-de-certains-candidats-frontistes-2506297. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Le Parisien. 2015. Jean-Marie Le Pen évincé: “plutôt une bonne chose” pour 84% des sympathisants FN, 8 May 2015, http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/jean-marie-le-pen-evince-plutot-une-bonne-chose-pour-84-des-sympathisants-fn-08-05-2015-4756533.php. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Slate. 2014. Au Front national, on joue collectifs, 7 September 2014, http://www.slate.fr/story/91839/fn-collectifs. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Primary Sources
CNCCFP. 2015. Commission nationale des comptes de campagne et des financements politiques, http://www.cnccfp.fr (home page). Accessed 1 October 2015.
Collectif Racine. 2015. Collectif Racine: Les enseignants patriotes, http://www.collectifracine.fr. Accessed 13 July 2015.
Parti socialiste. 2015. Congrès du Parti socialiste: motions, http://congres.parti-socialiste.fr/motions. Accessed 1 October 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ivaldi, G., Lanzone, M.E. (2016). 5 The French Front National: Organizational Change and Adaptation from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen. In: Heinisch, R., Mazzoleni, O. (eds) Understanding Populist Party Organisation. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58197-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58197-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58196-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58197-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)