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The cult of the leader is an invariant of most extreme right-wing movements. [...] From Boulangism to the Front National, what all extreme right-wing movements need above all is a leader, an authority.
These few lines, taken from a Dictionary of the Extreme Right published in 2007, provide a fair summary of the way in which extreme right-wing organizations are often considered. As “authoritarian personalities,” the activists in this political movement are thought to be driven by a love of order and by their “need for a leader,” qualities they reproduce by establishing quasi-military, vertical, highly disciplined structures. In the case of the Front National (FN, a French extreme right-wing party, renamed “Rassemblement National” in June 2018), this trope of the “cult of the leader” was undoubtedly confirmed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, former president of the FN, who attracted considerable media attention and wielded power in a highly authoritarian and personalized way that the 2011 change of presidency does not really seem to have called into question.
How can we build on this description of extreme right-wing movements, and the FN in particular? The purpose of this article is not to deny the existence of such sensibilities among FN activists or to refute the idea that it is a strongly centralized party, but rather to challenge some of the ways in which these facts are read. Analyses that speak of a “cult of the leader,” or use other similar expressions, tend to turn sometimes to the vocabulary of “need” (the need for authority, for order, etc…

Abstract

English

The hierarchical structure of extreme right-wing political organizations such as the Front National (FN) is usually attributed to a cult of the leader or a desire for authority among its members. From a sociological perspective, this article reflects on the sociocultural underpinnings of the FN party hierarchy. Based on the study of politically engaged milieux in a number of different territories, this article argues that the vertical organization of the FN is made possible by a pervasive “military culture” within the party. The over-representation of party members with a military background implies a special relationship to authority, which in turn helps to maintain and justify the FN’s hierarchical structure. One of the consequences of this military culture is that internal criticism of leadership and authority are rare, which conversely explains the recurrent partisan splits and exclusions that are characteristic of this party.

  • Front National
  • FN
  • vertical organization
  • far-right
  • political party
  • military culture
  • army
  • organizational culture
  • activism
Français

La structure verticale et le fonctionnement autoritaire du Front national (FN) sont régulièrement attribués à un « culte du chef » supposé animer ses membres, dont on peine à discerner les fondements. Dans une démarche sociologique, cet article propose d’analyser les soubassements socioculturels de la hiérarchie partisane frontiste. À partir de l’étude de milieux partisans dans des territoires contrastés, le texte montre que cette verticalité organisationnelle trouve une de ses conditions de possibilité dans une « culture militaire » dominante au sein du parti. La surreprésentation et la valorisation des mondes militaires au FN impliquent la diffusion d’un certain rapport à l’autorité qui vient légitimer le fonctionnement très hiérarchisé du parti. Cette culture militaire se traduit également par le peu de place accordé aux critiques internes de l’autorité du chef, et de ce fait par la récurrence, caractéristique de ce parti, des scissions et des exclusions militantes.

Outline

  1. Field and methods: Investigation of the FN in three distinct territorial configurations
  2. The military in the Front National
    1. Military careers, militant careers: Restricted but privileged recruitment
    2. The army and the party: continuities and affinities
    3. A dominant subgroup
    4. Military hybridizations
  4. Military culture and the legitimization of organizational verticality
    1. Acceptance of hierarchy and the vertical mode of operation
    2. A rejection of deliberative practices
    3. Conflict management through exit
  6. Conclusion

Authors

Félicien Faury
Félicien Faury is a doctoral student in political science at the Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire en sciences sociales (IRISSO) (Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in the Social Sciences) at Université Paris-Dauphine. His work focuses on Front National/Rassemblement National voters and the party’s mobilization at a local level. He has recently co-authored, with Lorenzo Barrault-Stella et al., an article on the reception of the televised 2017 presidential debate held between the two electoral rounds: “L’alignement des réceptions: le débat de l’entre-deux tours de l’élection présidentielle de 2017 du côté des publics,” Genèses 116 (2019): 77–110 (IRISSO, Université Paris-Dauphine, place du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, 75016 Paris).
Guillaume Letourneur
Guillaume Letourneur is a doctoral student in political science at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, based in the Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique (CESSP) (European Center for Sociology and Political Science). His work focuses on the local presence of the Front National in rural areas, based on research conducted in the Mayenne and Yonne départements. He is co-author, with Jean-Louis Briquet, Pierre Rouxel, and Marie Vannetzel, of a chapter entitled “Compétition électorale et politisation du territoire: les élections municipales de 2014 dans une petite ville de Bourgogne,” in À la conquête des villes. Sociologie politique des élections municipales de 2014, eds. Sandrine Lévêque and Anne-France Taiclet (Paris: Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2018) (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Département de science politique, 14 rue Cujas, 75005 Paris).
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