Dissensus over Liberal Democracy in France

Abstract The electoral strength of the far-right RN and of the far-left LFI is usually considered as an illustration of a widespread democratic malaise in France—a country where levels of mistrust towards elected institutions rank among the highest in the EU. However, although RN and LFI leaders articulate similar, populist critiques of liberal democracy—for instance, by opposing their own, charismatic legitimacy to that of unelected institutions—they stand for opposite views on pluralism and the definition of the people. Moreover, challenges to liberal democracy go beyond these two parties. They relate, first, to the exercise of power in a political system characterized by a very strong degree of personalisation and presidentialisation, at the expense of intermediary bodies and social movements. Second, they relate to the recognition of religious pluralism, increasingly constructed as a public problem. The two presidencies of Emmanuel Macron only exacerbated these tendencies, as the President failed to revitalise French democracy and moved French secularism further in an illiberal direction. In this context, although dissensus over liberal democracy has hitherto remained of a disruptive nature, growing dissatisfaction with the practice of liberal democracy might easily spill over into widespread hostility against the ideal of liberal democracy.