"Rotten to the core" : variations of French nationalist anti-system rhetoric

Abstract

Vallitsevan poliittisen järjestelmän vastustaminen on piirre, joka on leimannut ranskalaista äärinationalismia aina 1800-luvun loppupuolelta alkaen. Tuula Vaarakallio tarkastelee tutkimuksessaan kolmea erilaista äärikansallisen liikehdinnän edustajaa, jotka ovat hyökänneet edustuksellista demokratiaa, parlamentarismia sekä poliittista eliittiä vastaa eri aikakausina.Vaarakallio tutki äärioikeistolaista järjestelmän vastaisuutta yksityiskohtaisesti poliittisissa ohjelmateksteissä. Näin hän keräsi lisätietoa siitä, mitä itsestäänselvyytenä pidetyn äärikansallisen protestin taakse kätkeytyy.

One of the main components (topoi) of the politics of the French nationalists since the late 19th century has been the rhetoric against the existing ”system,” that is the discourse against the representative form of democracy, the parliamentary form of government and the political establishment. This study focuses on the nationalist anti-system rhetoric at the turn of the 20th and the turn of the 21st centuries, namely on Boulangism (1886-1889) and its representative Maurice Barrès (1862-1923), the nationalist Charles Maurras (1868-1952), and the contemporary radical right movement, the Front National (1972-). This study aims to carry out a detailed and politically oriented exploration of the changes that can be detected in this rejection from the time of Boulanger to that of the Front National.Methodologically, the study is neither strictly rhetorical nor historical but is instead located somewhere between these two approaches. The main objective is to distinguish the political assumptions and commitments that lie behind the terminology of the political programs not only by analyzing the attack against parliamentarism and the ”deteriorated” establishment but also by examining the ”political alternative” provided, that is, for example the populist calls for direct democracy. The use of antithetical pairs clearly typifies this kind of nationalist rhetoric, and the dichotomy between ”the real nation” and ”the legal nation” is a specific emblematic manifestation of how in the nationalist discourse ”the true political essence” is distinguished from the ”the false political appearance,” thereby serving as a basis for the nationalist attempt at achieving ”one truth or one essence”.The study illustrates how nationalist politics actually aims at harmonizing political life and simplifying politics, not only by demanding firm authority and relying directly on the people by means of referenda but also by avoiding political struggles, ”vain” politicking and useless parliamentary discussions. Although there are variations in the rhetoric of the various political agents and ideologists covered in this study, one may nevertheless conclude that the call for national coherence and political unanimity on the one hand, and the renunciation of pluralism, political alternatives and contingency on the other, seem to prevail.