In today’s instalment of Marlière Across La Manche, City analysts are crying wolf at the “Mr.Normal” of French politics. How droll
The first round of France’s presidential election leaves the incumbent president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in a tight corner. Its result also presages a longer struggle over the future shape of the country's political right, says Patrice de Beer.
The use of anti-Semitism as the main narrative for “Toulouse” led to an internationalising step in the depiction of these events, as commentators increasingly linked the attacks to the Israel/Palestine conflict. Comments then focused on the alleged responsibility of “Israel” or “Muslims” in Merah’
Sorting out the men from the boys. Today’s instalment of Marlière Across La Manche
Today’s instalment of Marlière Across La Manche continues with a short survey of media coverage of the French elections from good to terrible, with a few self-publicists thrown into the mix.
Europe has featured in most candidates’ speeches and proposals. But which one? Today’s instalment of Marlière Across La Manche
Despite previous predictions of voter apathy and dull campaigns, we are witnessing a real presidential race — with powerful oratory and a high turnout at rallies for France in 2012. Today’s instalment of Marlière Across La Manche
The rapprochement of the traditional right with its extreme is progressing fast, with the “de-demonisation” of the Front Nationale, accompanied by a raid on past techniques of the far right, going back at least as far as Marshall Pétain. See Marlière across La Manche
The president has confessed that if he had not matched Le Pen’s hard-right rhetoric, he would by now find himself in an even more desperate position. But could the strategy of his advisor, Patrick Buisson, be arithmetically flawed? Our diarist continues his coverage in Marlière Across La Manche.
Charles de Gaulle once said that the French presidential election was “an encounter between the nation and a man” (sic). Big Charles may have been right in suggesting that this election is about personality politics. There is much more to it though. In Marlière across La Manche I invite you to fol
In ganging up on housing estates, in racist attacks or inter-state brinkmanship, how does the enemy become the Other? This peculiar purification process requires a narrative and a chance to 'perform a boundary'. For local and national communities, leaders and politicians alike, it is one way to re
There were some good reasons to suspect the French extreme right of theToulouse killings. In this first article, Nicolas Lebourg shows how, once the identity of the killer was known, Marine Le Pen could switch her discourse to Islamophobia, a terrain on which she feels most comfortable.
