Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:28:22.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Right-Wing Populism and the Securitisation of Laïcité Narratives in French Education Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2020

Efe Peker
Efe Peker*
Affiliation:
School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, University of Ottawa E-mail: epeker@uottawa.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article traces the influence of Front National (FN) on the transformation of mainstream French narratives of laïcité since 1989, with particular attention to education policy. It argues that the FN’s right-wing populist rhetoric, particularly the systematic securitisation of Islam as a threat to the ‘people’, facilitated the more widespread reframing of laïcité as a Republican defence mechanism, operating primarily through the school system. Laïcité was increasingly deployed in mainstream discourses and legislative measures to address two interrelated security concerns: the immediate safety of the school by the promotion of neutrality, and the overall wellbeing of the Republic via the prevention of radicalisation. Analysing this process in two specific periods (1989–2004 and 2005–2019), the article demonstrates that the FN’s populist agenda came to be in a symbiotic relationship with the centre-right and centre-left parties. While established parties gradually incorporated the FN’s securitisation narrative in their policymaking, the FN went through a process of ‘normalisation’ by claiming ownership of laïcité as a way to frame its anti-Islam stance in a more acceptable Republican discourse.

Keywords

FranceIslampopulismeducationsecularism
Type
Themed Section: Populism, Religion and Social Policy
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 326 - 339
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akbaba, Y. and Jeffrey, B. (eds) (2017) The Implications of ‘New Populism’ For Education, Essex: E & E Publishing.Google Scholar
Almeida, D. (2017) ‘Exclusionary secularism: the Front National and the reinvention of laïcité’, Modern and Contemporary France, 25, 249–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (2004a) Deuxième séance du mardi 3 février 2004: 148e séance de la session ordinaire 2003, 3 February, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/cri/2003-2004/20040148.asp [accessed 09.05.2020].Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (2004b) Troisième séance du mardi 3 février 2004: 149e séance de la session ordinaire 2003–2004, 3 February, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/cri/2003-2004/20040149.asp [accessed 21.01.2020].Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (2004c) Première séance du jeudi 5 février 2004: 152e séance de la session ordinaire 2003–2004, 5 February, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/cri/2003-2004/20040152.asp [accessed 21.01.2020].Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (2010a) XIIIe législature, Compte rendu intégral, Première séance du mercredi 7 juillet 2010, 7 July, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/cri/2009-2010-extra/20101011.asp [accessed 09.05.2020].Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (2010b) Rapport d’information fait au nom de la mission d’information sur la pratique du port du voile intégral sur le territoire national, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/rap-info/i2262.asp [accessed 07.07.2020].Google Scholar
Baroin, F. (2003) Pour une nouvelle laïcité: rapport au Premier ministre, Paris: La Documentation Française.Google Scholar
Barreau, J-M. (2019) ‘Le Front national et l’école de la République: Un idéologue de la decadence’, Recherches et Educations, doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/rechercheseducations.6872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baubérot, J. (2015) Les sept laïcités françaises. Le modèle français de laïcité n’existe pas, Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayrou, F. (1994) Circulaire no. 1649 du 20 septembre 1994 (Education nationale), 21 September, http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/dossiers/documents-laicite/document-3.pdf [accessed 24.01.2020].Google Scholar
Bowen, J. R. (2007) Why the French don’t Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space, Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, R. (2017) ‘Between nationalism and civilizationism: the European populist moment in comparative perspective’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40, 1191–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, J. (2014) Impact of Extreme Right Parties on Immigration Policy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cesari, J. (2012) ‘Securitization of Islam in Europe’, Die Welt des Islams, 52, 430–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CIPDR (2018) Prévenir Pour Protéger: Plan national de prévention de la radicalisation, https://www.cipdr.gouv.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DP2018-02-23-CIPDR-Radicalisation-V5.pdf [accessed 24.01.2020].Google Scholar
CLR (2016) Patrick Kessel: la laïcité, un rempart contre le FN, http://www.laicite-republique.org/patrick-kessel-la-laicite-un-rempart-contre-le-fn-le-dauphine-libere-14-mars-16.html [accessed 24.01.2020].Google Scholar
Croft, S. (2012) Securitizing Islam: Identity and the Search for Security, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, L. (2016) ‘Security, extremism and education: safeguarding or surveillance?’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 64, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. (1999) The Front National in France: Ideology, Discourse and Power, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
DeClair, E. G. (1999) Politics on the Fringe: The People, Policies, and Organization of the French National Front, Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dézé, A. (2015) ‘La « dédiabolisation »: une nouvelle stratégie ?’, in Crépon, S., Dézé, A. and Mayer, N. (eds.), Les faux-semblants du Front national, Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 25–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Éducation Nationale (2013) Charte de la Laïcité à l’École, https://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/09_Septembre/10/6/chartelaicite_268106.pdf [accessed 01.07.2020].Google Scholar
Emmers, R. (2019) ‘Securitization’, in Collins, A. (ed.), Contemporary Security Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 173–87.Google Scholar
FN (1991) Immigration: 50 mesures concrètes. Les Français ont la parole, Marseille: Front National.Google Scholar
FN (2001) Pour un avenir français: Le programme de gouvernement du Front National, Paris: Godefroy de Bouillon.Google Scholar
Hervieu-Léger, D. (1998) ‘The past in the present: redefining laïcité in multicultural France’, in Berger, P. L. (ed.), The Limits of Social Cohesion: Conflict and Mediation in Pluralist Societies, New York: Routledge, 38–83.Google Scholar
HIC (2007) Projet de charte de la laïcité dans les services publics: avis à Monsieur le Premier minister, https://www.banquedesterritoires.fr/sites/default/files/ra/Haut%20conseil%20à%20l%27intégration%20%3A%20projet%20de%20charte%20de%20la%20laïcité%20dans%20les%20services%20publics.pdf [accessed 01.07.2020].Google Scholar
HIC (2012) Pour une pédagogie de la laïcité à l’école, http://archives.hci.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Pedagogie_de_la_laicite-web.pdf [accessed 04.03.2020].Google Scholar
Hogan, J. and Howlett, M. (eds) (2015) Policy Paradigms in Theory and Practice: Discourses, Ideas and Anomalies in Public Policy Dynamics, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humanité (2019) Immigration: Emmanuel Macron prend le relais de marine Le Pen, 18 September, https://www.humanite.fr/immigration-emmanuel-macron-prend-le-relais-de-marine-le-pen-677271 [accessed 04.03.2020].Google Scholar
James, J. and Janmaat, J. G. (2019) Civil Disorder, Domestic Terrorism and Education Policy: The Context in England and France, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lange, M. (2013) Comparative-Historical Methods, London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laxer, E. (2019) Unveiling the Nation: The Politics of Secularism in France and Quebec, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Monde (2014) Laïcité à l’école: l’arnaque de Marine Le Pen sur les cantines, 7 April, https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/04/07/porc-a-la-cantine-l-arnaque-de-marine-le-pen_4396864_4355770.html [accessed 22.06.2020].Google Scholar
Le Monde des Religions (2011) Elisabeth Badinter: “Un peu de kantisme dans notre société serait bienvenu”, http://www.lemondedesreligions.fr/entretiens/elisabeth-badinter-un-peu-de-kantisme-dans-notre-societe-serait-bienvenu-28-09-2011-1894_111.php [accessed 21.01.2020].Google Scholar
Le Parisien (2003) Sarkozy: « C’est ma réponse au 21 avril », 21 April, http://www.leparisien.fr/archives/sarkozy-c-est-ma-reponse-au-21-avril-21-04-2003-2004016659.php [accessed 24.01.2020].Google Scholar
Le Parisien (2013) Mères voilées en sorties scolaires: Marine Le Pen veut « une offensive laïque », 23 December, http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/meres-voilees-en-sortie-scolaire-marine-le-pen-veut-une-offensive-laique-23-12-2013-3434775.php [accessed 16.06.2020].Google Scholar
Le Point (2015) Le gouvernement se pose en défenseur de la laïcité face au FN et à l’islamisme radical, 9 December, https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/le-gouvernement-se-pose-en-defenseur-de-la-laicite-face-au-fn-et-a-l-islamisme-radical-09-12-2015-1988610_20.php [accessed 03.05.2020].Google Scholar
Mabilon-Bonfils, B. (2015) ‘L’école après Charlie’, Le sujet dans la cite, 2, 37–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MEN (2015a) Grande mobilisation de l’École pour les valeurs de la République, https://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/01-janvier/49/4/2015_DP_mobilisation_Ecole_complet_385494.pdf [accessed 12.07.2020].Google Scholar
MEN (2015b) Prévenir la radicalisation des jeunes, https://cache.media.eduscol.education.fr/file/Prevention_radicalisation/20/2/prevention_livret_567202.pdf [accessed 11.03.2020].Google Scholar
MEN (2019) Politique de prévention de la radicalisation violente en milieu scolaire, https://eduscol.education.fr/cid100811/prevention-de-la-radicalisation.html [accessed 20.10.2020].Google Scholar
Moffit, B. (2016) The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation, Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mondon, A. (2013) The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A Populist Hegemony, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mondon, A. (2015) ‘The French secular hypocrisy: the extreme right, the republic and the battle for hegemony’, Patterns of Prejudice, 49, 392–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuendorf, K. A. (2017) The Content Analysis Guidebook, London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, P-E. (2019) French Populism and Discourses on Secularism, London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Norris, P. and Inglehart, R. (2019) Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ozouf, M. (1982) L’Ecole, l’Eglise et la République: 1871-1914, Paris: Cana.Google Scholar
Peker, E. (2019) ‘Bringing the state back in secularization: the development of laïcité in the French Third Republic (1875–1905), Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 58, 813–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rassemblement National (2012) Marine Le Pen: Mon Projet pour la France et les français, https://www.rassemblementnational.fr/pdf/projet_mlp2012.pdf [accessed 19.09.2020].Google Scholar
Rassemblement National (2013) Laïcité: une charte pour rien, https://rassemblementnational.fr/communiques/laicite-une-charte-pour-rien/ [accessed 15.03.2020].Google Scholar
Rassemblement National (2017) 144 engagements présidentiels, https://rassemblementnational.fr/pdf/144-engagements.pdf [accessed 16.06.2020].Google Scholar
Rioux, C. (2015) En France, l’école laïque comme rempart au terrorisme, 22 January, https://www.ledevoir.com/monde/europe/429632/l-apres-charlie-hebdo-l-ecole-laique-comme-rempart-au-terrorisme [accessed 18.06.2020].Google Scholar
Roy, O. (2016) ‘The French National Front: from Christian identity to laicité’, in Marzouki, N., McDonnell, D. and Roy, O. (eds.), Saving the People: How Populists Hijack Religion, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 73–93.Google Scholar
Scott, J. W. (2007) The Politics of the Veil, Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shields, J. G. (2007) The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen, London: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stasi, B. (2003) Commission de réflexion sur l’application du principe de laïcité dans la République: rapport au président de la République, http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/var/storage/rapports-publics/034000725.pdf [accessed 11.05.2020].Google Scholar
Stockemer, D. (2017) The Front National in France: Continuity and Change Under Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen, Cham: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesselhoeft, K. (2017) ‘On the ‘front lines’ of the classroom: moral education and Muslim students in French state schools’, Oxford Review of Education, 43, 626–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar