How Does the Establishment Imagine the Radical Right? French-German Perspectives

This paper focuses on the establishment’s conception of the radical right in France and Germany. By the term “establishment” we refer to the government and its administration. In both countries judicial as well as administrative measures were introduced in order to respond to the radical right (Minkenberg, 2006, van Donselaar, 1995). There is an important degree of diversity in the measures taken against the radical right among western countries (Capoccia, 2005, Downs, 2012). In this regard the French and German models of repression against the radical right strongly differ (Canu, 1997). A comparative approach appears to be fruitful in order to understand which logics the establishment’s conception of the radical right follow, enabling us to identify common features between the two countries under investigation. This work seeks to make a contribution to the academic field of research working on the state’s responses to political extremism by providing a broad outline of the French and German establishment’s conceptions of the radical right. This paper will both base on the existing literature and empirical findings collected during two fieldworks led in France (2014) and Germany (2013 and 2015). The paper will show that France and Germany have developed two different theoretical frameworks, one giving a precise definition of political extremism (German case), the second being much less precise (French case). In the former situation the administration in charge of responding to the radical right can rely on a clear historical frame provided by the Fundamental Law (Backes, Jesse, 1989). On the contrary French legislation did not provide a clear framework, urging the administration, especially the security authorities, to conceptualise what the radical right actually might be. We will explore those two different theoretical frameworks, outlining a depoliticisation of the concept of the radical right among the administration. This paper will ultimately show that those two models of conceptualisation of the radical right are similarly influenced by regular interventions of political actors, who impose their own conception of the radical right. Common dynamics are identified in France and Germany among the interactions taking place between governments and the administrations responding to the radical right. This political interference shapes the vision the administration has of the radical right. In practice this process results in a differentiated treatment by state authorities of the different types of extremism.