The national front in France and the construction of political legitimacy

The National Front in France has experienced a meteoric increase in support since 1981, attacting about ten per cent of the vote in elections at every level. The principal issues on which the party has won support ‐ immigration and security ‐ have become key domestic issues. This article analyses the rise of the party and the inability of the established parties of the right to maintain the confidence of their supporters. It also examines a process of construction of legitimacy in which political elites of right and left participated. Finally, an evaluation is made of the National Front's ability to maintain and expand its electoral strength.     

On Extremism in our Time

Extremism—in attitudes and actions—appears to be expanding. What makes one prone to extremism? Umberto Eco’s The Prague Cemetery, a narrative built on diary entries of the man who forged the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, exposes the two-self nature of extremists. It also exposes the two-self nature of the Narrator, who imposes coherence on the diary entries. This essay peels off the layers of images that allow extremists of all kind to appear other than they truly are.     

South Africa: capital accumulation and violence

This article analyses the conditions of capital accumulation in South Africa, and seeks to explain the authoritarian and racially discriminatory features of the South African social structure in terms of (a) the specific historical processes of change (mercantile colonial conquest, primitive accumulation in mining and farming) and (b) the specific features of contemporary capitalism, notably the capital-intensive structure of industry. The authoritarianism embodied, for example, in the extra-economic coercion of black labour is seen as reflecting the circumstances of the struggle between capital and labour under conditions where capital-labour contradictions exist alongside the contradiction between South African capitalism and the ‘dependent’ societies it has preserved/recreated. The implications of this situation for strategies of socialist change are briefly evaluated.     

Six propositions on the poor and pollution

The effect of improving the environment may be greater inequities in our society. Current environmental programs maintain this inequity, proposed environmental programs may make things worse, and even if we do improve the environment, contentment may decrease. A political coalition of environmental and equity enthusiasts may provide a viable way out of these dilemmas.