"If the people vote, the people win!": The radical right in France

This dissertation explores contemporary right-wing populist nationalism by analyzing the role national identity discourse played in the 2022 French presidential election. My project examines the campaign discourse of two radical right presidential candidates: Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour. Through a combination of textual analysis and rhetorical field work, I argue that nationalism and populism intertwine to sustain contemporary right-wing discourse. I draw attention to the rhetorical strategies integral to this discourse and explain how Le Pen and Zemmour customized these strategies to French politics, history, values, and culture. In doing so, I explain how the rhetors relied on national identity rhetoric to support populist nationalism. My dissertation highlights the rhetorical strategies that the candidates deployed to constitute the nation, its in-group, and out-groups. First, this dissertation examines the ways radical right rhetors constituted ‘the people’ while scapegoating perceived political enemies. I show how the rhetors relied on identification, dissociation, nativism, and anti-elitism to position the election as a mass purification ritual, one that would cast out scapegoats while restoring ‘the people’s’ primacy. Second, my project explores how the rhetors invoked nationalist understandings of space and time in order to constitute the nation as an idealized national community. I describe the ways the rhetors appealed to shared national place, space, and time to create a co-constitutive relationship between the nation and ‘the people.’ Finally, this dissertation analyzes how the candidates crafted political personae designed to align with ‘the people’ and against their enemies. My project highlights how Le Pen and Zemmour portrayed themselves as modern-day embodiments of grand French leaders. In doing so, I illustrate how they created a complementary relationship with voters, as their supporters provided the candidates with political legitimacy. Through my analysis, this dissertation draws attention to the ways that politicians and other public figures define national identity through exclusionary rhetorical strategies. By analyzing how nationalist ideology enables populist political logic, this project expands our understanding of contemporary transnational right-wing discourse.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Seitz, Lauren N.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Murphy, John M.
• Murphy, John M
• Cisneros, Josue David
• Finnegan, Cara A
• O'Gorman, Ned

• Populism
• Nationalism
• Marine Le Pen
• Éric Zemmour
• France

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Lauren Seitz

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130088

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F130088