Four books on the far right to give at Christmas

Selection
The National Rally became, during the European elections and early legislative elections, the leading political force in the country. What to read to understand it better? “Le Nouvel Obs” offers you a selection.

Did your little cousin want to read the book by Jordan Bardella, whom he follows on TikTok? Your Chevènementist uncle proclaims that the early legislative elections of 2024 were his last « vote barrage » facing the extreme right? Does your abstentionist sister think that there is nothing radical left within the National Rally? To enlighten your loved ones on Lepénist training and perfect your political culture, “Le Nouvel Obs” has selected four books that deal with the subject, academic or journalistic works, to slip under the tree without hesitation.

1. The most complete

“The Hidden Springs of the RN Vote” by Luc Rouban

The essay is academic, but reads easily, like a long press article. Luc Rouban, CNRS research director at Cevipof, offers to answer a seemingly simple question. Why is the National Rally (RN) attracting more and more votes? With supporting figures, the researcher shows that we must be wary of clichés – Le Pen's voters would be angry, and their vote would be the result of the rise of populism – but suggests analyzing in depth the reasons for membership of the leading political force in France.

Luc Rouban points out that the RN vote would often be the result of a feeling of neglect and contempt, in the face of upward social mobility becoming impossible. The fruit, also, of three failures (failure of the welfare state, with strong social reproduction; failure of the idea of ​​national community, notably with the increase in violence against elected officials; failure of control ever stronger nature). The academic notes that in the face of these failures, the RN vote often represents a way of seeking to protect a way of life. A reading which allows us to put an end to the simplistic idea that RN voters are only hateful and racist post-fascists.

2. The most informed

“The Far Right, new generation” by Nicolas Massol and Marylou Magal

The book could have been called “Generation Bardella”, as it recounts in detail and anecdotes the friendly and intellectual construction of the president of the National Rally and those close to him. Our colleagues from “Libération” and “l'Express” deliver a precise and lively investigation into the youth of the new face of the extreme right, but also of all those who make up his generation, whether they are called Marion Maréchal, Sarah Knafo, Geoffroy Lejeune, Pierre Gentillet…

Also read

Names and faces that we find in politics, in journalism (mainly in the media of the reactionary billionaire Vincent Bolloré), but also in numerous associations. What do they have in common? The conviction that the fight for identity is the only one that is worthwhile, and the certainty that they are all working to bring their ideas to power, whatever the path chosen.

3 – The most “pop”

“Pop Fascism: how the far right won the cultural battle on the internet” by Pierre Plottu and Maxime Macé

Fans of the subject remember the excellent “Fachosphere” (Flammarion, 2016), by Dominique Albertini and David Doucet, which told in 2016 how the far right had invaded the Minitel, then the web (blogs, obscure sites and quickly social networks), to bypass the cordon santé and disseminate his ideas to as many people as possible. The time was neither Instagram nor TikTok. Ten years later, while new faces have established themselves on the networks – Thaïs d’Escufon, Alice Cordier, Baptiste Marchais… – and ideas reserved for small groups have gradually appeared in the general media (the famous “window of Overton”), how can we understand the phenomenon?

Also read

The work of Pierre Plottu and Maxime Macé, both journalists at “Libération”, starts from a simple postulate: the success of the RN would not have been possible without the previous occupation of social networks by a plethora of radical agitators. This influence allowed ideas initially placed on the margins to suddenly find themselves acceptable. But don't think that these influencers are all talking about politics or a hypothetical “great replacement” all day long. Most are content to offer a “way of life” in the French way (bodybuilding, meat and traditions), or talk about male-female relationships (the hunter, the home, etc.).

If they can make you smile, these often caricatured accounts are the expression of an integral politicization of existence, remind the two journalists, and these contents are all the more effective in propagating an illiberal cultural project as they seem a priori depoliticized. Agitators who can also count on Vincent Bolloré’s media “ecosystem” to gain power. A world where all the actors are perfectly aware of waging a war for power, to impose their ideas at the head of the country.

4. The sharpest

“Paris Moscow. A century of the extreme right” by Nicolas Lebourg and Olivier Schmitt

Nicolas Lebourg is an associate researcher at the Center for Political and Social Studies (Cepel, CNRS-University of Montpellier), specialist in the far right. Olivier Schmitt is professor of international relations at the Center for War Studies at the University of South Denmark. Their challenge is ambitious: to put into perspective a century of links between the French extreme right and Russia. And show that they are not limited to the meeting between Marine Le Pen and Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin, on March 24, 2017.

Also read

The two researchers return in this comprehensive, informed and in-depth work on the old, often self-interested links which affect the entire French extreme right-wing field and its currents, and Russia. A pro-Russian inclination “which above all shows the desire to rebuild the world order, with a less unipolar world and more sovereign nations, a less multicultural and postmodern society”write the two authors. Russian power, for its part, is essentially seeking “to modify the socio-political structure of Western societies, by favoring the emergence or even better the coming to power of populist-conservative movements, whose ideological inclination is close to its own”. The authors also note France's vulnerability to Russian propaganda. Valuable keys to understanding at a time of war in Ukraine.