The extreme right-wing National Front is now France's fourth largest political party. In 1986 under a proportional electoral system it won thirty-five seats in the French National Assembly; in the 1988 Presidential election the National Front's leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, obtained over fourteen percent of the popular vote. Over the past decade, it has won representation at virtually all levels of French politics.

Le Pen's xenophobic anti-immigrant message has clearly attracted significant support in France. He has had a major influence upon the terms on which issues like immigration,...

The extreme right-wing National Front is now France's fourth largest political party. In 1986 under a proportional electoral system it won thirty-five seats in the French National Assembly; in the 1988 Presidential election the National Front's leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, obtained over fourteen percent of the popular vote. Over the past decade, it has won representation at virtually all levels of French politics.

Le Pen's xenophobic anti-immigrant message has clearly attracted significant support in France. He has had a major influence upon the terms on which issues like immigration,...

'Jonathan Marcus...stands out from most of his colleagues in the media by making a case for the non-alarmists. His National Front and French Politics is a throughtful study, which in the end, provides a more effective refutation of the myths peddled by Le Pen than would an angry pamphlet.' - Henri Astier, Times Literary Supplement Jonathan Marcus's comprehensive account provides plenty of analysis to go with the factual background to the rise of Le Pen and the NF. There are particularly good chapters on the many strands of far-right opinion, from collaborators to extreme Catholics who...