The Devil Within: The Rise of the Front National

Document
Document

This study attempts to empirically investigate the causes behind the Front National's surprising recent electoral success by analyzing the content of the party's strategy of dédiabolisation, or "un-deviling". Specifically, it focuses on determining the extent to which this strategy represents a simple programmatic moderation, a rebranding of its traditional extremist policies, or a more nuanced selective de-radicalization. Through a content analysis of shifts in party rhetoric between 2002 and 2014, several notable trends are uncovered. First, several explosive changes in the usage of specific words point to a reframing of immigration in terms of the allegedly immense societal and financial cost it imposes on French taxpayers, an adjustment in keeping with the party's populist shift. Second, a striking rise in usage of negatively-charged words belies the view of the "new FN' as a more moderate version of its former self.

    Item Description
    Name(s)
    Thesis advisor: Poisson, Catherine
    Date
    April 15, 2015
    Extent
    119 pages
    Language
    eng
    Genre
    Physical Form
    electronic
    Rights and Use
    In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
    Digital Collection
    PID
    ir:989