The French Right-Wing Paradox – Maintaining the cordon
Abstract
In this article, we explain why the French mainstream right-wing party, today Les Républicains, has maintained until now a cordon sanitaire between itself and its far-right counterpart, the Rassemblement National. We examine the usual hypotheses identified by the literature on coalitions between mainstream and far-right parties, and confirm that they are not able to explain the French case. We argue that this paradox can be solved by re evaluating some core ideological disagreements, as well as the importance of competence and credibility in the party image of the mainstream right, which we identify – discussing Panebianco’s genetic model – as a result of its historical role of governmental, established party.