Forged by the National Front, this concept defines the strategy of response to the “demonization” of the party by its opponents, to end the political illegitimacy which it would be struck within public opinion. Marine Le Pen only takes up this tradition, while accentuating it.
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History of a notion. Nothing is more commonplace today than talking about “dedication”. The concept is part of the current language: attest to its entry into the Larousse dictionary in 2015, the existence of a Wikipedia page, or its massive use by the general and specialized press, to analyze the transformations of the French political field in recent years. The term is indeed largely associated with the National Front (FN) – which has become a national rally (RN) – and in particular with its ex -president and candidate, Marine Le Pen.
“Dediabolization” most often describes the strategy tending to reverse the “demonization” of the far-right party, that is to say the illegitimacy which it would be struck within public opinion. No political comments on the party seems to be able to do without this notion. “It constitutes a kind of practical reading grid, easy and quick to use, which clearly saves analysis,” said Alexandre Dézé, lecturer in political science at the University of Montpellier.
True “magic concept”, according to the researcher, who would be likely to explain both the party’s tactics since 2011 and his most recent developments, his origin should nevertheless encourage to temper their trivialization. “The word was forged by managers of the National Front in the late 1980s, from another neologism, that of” demonization “”, recalls Alexandre Dézé. It is, for these executives, and in particular for the former “number two” of the FN, Bruno Mégret (who leaves the party in 1998) to set up a theoretical counter-offensive aimed at breaking the extremely strong moral judgment On their political business.
“For frontist officials,” demonization “is based on exclusively exogenous springs. In short, the political illegitimacy of the party cannot be explained other than by the discourse of illegitimation of his opponents”, underlines Alexandre Dézé . This rhetoric “victim and conspirator”, according to the words of the researcher, allows in return to justify the discourse of the party against the “system”, the “umps”, the “hyperclass”, or the “media lobby” . It is however important to recall that this “demonization” noted, and is still in the day, a conscious and assumed strategy of the party and its executives.
“structural tension”
The many “slippages” and provocations which regularly define the chronicle are thus intended to mobilize their most fervent supporters, often attached to a radical conception of the party ideology. The “detail” affair in 1987, following the statements of Jean-Marie Le Pen qualifying the gas chambers “point of detail of the history of the Second World War”, and several times reactivated since, had had moreover later was considered a “success” by the person concerned.
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