Empire's Legacy: Roots of a Far-Right Affinity in Contemporary France

by John W.P. Veugelers

Overview

Many argue that globalization and its discontents explain the strength of populism and nativism in contemporary Europe, Latin America, and the United States. In France, though, an older potential born of imperialism has propelled the far right of Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen.

To explain how the National Front gained a foothold in France, Empire's Legacy connects local politics with historical developments that span nearly two centuries. Its analysis hinges on the idea of political potential: the possibility that a social group will support a movement, pressure group, political party, or other organized option. Starting from the French conquest of Algeria, John W.P Veugelers follows the career of a potential, showing how it erupted into support for the National Front in Toulon, the largest city under the far right of any postwar European democracy.

Relying on archival research, electoral surveys, and personal interviews, Veugelers shows that voluntary associations, interest-group politics, and patron-client relations knit together a far-right affinity bequeathed by French imperialism. Veugelers examines the possibilities and limits of far-right power at the local level, moreover, and the barriers that effective, scandal-free government pose to extremist success.

Exploring new terrain in the study of contemporary politics, Empire's Legacy makes the case for a subcultural approach that connects social networks to symbolic codes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190875664
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/22/2019
Series:	Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

John W.P. Veugelers is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. He has written widely on the far right, immigration politics, social movements, and voluntary associations in Canada, France, and Italy. The recipient of awards for outstanding teaching at the University of Toronto, Veugelers has been a visiting professor at universities in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and a visiting fellow at the Camargo Foundation in France. Dedication
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Sedimentation of a Political Affinity
Chapter 1. Settler Relations and Identities in Colonial Algeria
Chapter 2. The Unmaking of the Colony
Part Two: Ex-colonials in the Metropole
Chapter 3. From Newcomers to Incipient Constituency
Chapter 4. New Political Configurations
Part Three: Shift in Opportunities
Chapter 5. Gaullism Loses Ground
Chapter 6. Building a Base for the National Front
Chapter 7. The Far Right Organizes in the Var
Chapter 8. A City under the Far Right
Part Four: The Far Right Endures
Chapter 9. Discourse and Politics
Chapter 10. Transmitting a Far Right Affinity
Chapter 11. Holding Off the National Front
Conclusion
Appendix
References

Table of Contents

Dedication
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Sedimentation of a Political Affinity
Chapter 1. Settler Relations and Identities in Colonial Algeria
Chapter 2. The Unmaking of the Colony
Part Two: Ex-colonials in the Metropole
Chapter 3. From Newcomers to Incipient Constituency
Chapter 4. New Political Configurations
Part Three: Shift in Opportunities
Chapter 5. Gaullism Loses Ground
Chapter 6. Building a Base for the National Front
Chapter 7. The Far Right Organizes in the Var
Chapter 8. A City under the Far Right
Part Four: The Far Right Endures
Chapter 9. Discourse and Politics
Chapter 10. Transmitting a Far Right Affinity
Chapter 11. Holding Off the National Front
Conclusion
Appendix
References

Editorial Reviews

"Empire's legacy takes a fresh look at contemporary right-wing populism. Brushing aside economic explanations, it puts forward an important and neglected factor, the affinity with the far right that developed among settlers in Algeria...The central assumption of the book is that this state of mind stayed alive within the many voluntary associations the repatriates set up to defend their claims. Not only did these networks allow for a successful lobbying at the local level, they also had a deep socializing impact on the individuals, insulating their members from the rest of the population and saving intact their memories of the past and their resentment. The closer their ties with these associations, the more receptive they would be to the nativist and anti-immigrant platform of a party like the Front national (FN) after its electoral take off in the 1980s, when their political demand met the adequate political supply." — International Sociology

"Veugelers brilliantly traces the 'career of a potential'—a disposition formed in specific circumstances, incubating over time, and emerging contingently. His work suggests that it's not enough for political sociologists to focus only on what becomes manifest as political events. We need to also consider what exists in potentia. We need to be on the lookout for 'subterranean currents, countervailing forces, and lost causes.' Otherwise we cultivate blind spots. This is a sociology of possibility but not of the kind sociologists have traditionally looked out for–utopias and the like—but, rather, the negative of this: dark, authoritarian undercurrents. The committee felt that Empire's Legacy pushed the boundary of our subdiscipline forward and expanded the field of political inquiry in ways that felt imperative for our times." — From the 2021 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award, Section on Political Sociology

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