Front National - France
Front National is currently the third largest political party in France behind the center right Union for a Popular Movement, and the left wing Socialist Party. They have achieved great popularity among the public with extremely nationalist rhetoric, demanding pride in the French nation and venomously attacking any group which disagrees with them. They were founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972 in an attempt to unite the right so as to best combat the left and communism. Front National was a very fringe party until the 80's when it exploited discontent in the two leading blocs to gain around 10 percent of the seats in the National Assembly. They consolidated this position until 1997 when a sizable portion of their members split off to form the MNR, another far right party with the only difference being economic issues. After the split Front National had difficulty competing in any race other than the presidency, in which Le Pen took second in 2002. After the presidential election, Front National was unable to win any national seats, and very few local seats until the recent municipal wins in early April, giving them control of 14 towns and cities in France, leaving them poised to make great gains in the national elections in 2 years. Front National has often been called fascist for their social, moral, and political beliefs, while the party leadership would agree that their ideology is Authoritarian, Nationalist, and Populist, they would argue vehemently that they are not actually Fascists, but rather patriots, possibly the only true patriots left in France.
Front National's party platform has several main points which mark it as an extreme right party. Their main issues are, Anti-Immigration, Euroscepticism, a Protectionist Trickle Down Economy, and just anything Nationalist in general. The party has garnered a lot of criticism over the years due to their Anti-Immigration policy, as well as the fact that several of their leaders have denied that the holocaust occurred, or said that, if it did occur, it was not nearly as bad as it has been made out to be.
The issue most often brought up by Front National is the need to reform immigration and make sure to maintain the racial, cultural, and religious identity of France. They aim to do this by blocking the vast majority of immigrants, including all immigrants from outside of Europe from gaining entry to France, as well as deporting any immigrant who is unemployed, has a criminal record, or who has not "properly integrated into French society". They believe that by doing this they will be able to reduce the population by over 3 million, which they say will save the country billions of dollars that would have been spent paying for their welfare. Le Pen has also stated that by halting immigration into France and removing the majority of the immigrants already there, there will be a sharp decrease in crime nationwide. This belief that immigrants cause crime along with the fact that their is a large focus on immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East has led many observers to label them as racists. However a vast number of people in the public are growing more and more dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, and the North African immigrants are increasingly finding themselves the unwitting targets of racism, leading many to believe that Front National may soon gather enough public support to be a real contender nationwide.
Behind their Anti-Immigration rhetoric, Front National's second most important point is their Euroscepticism, and general anti-globalism. Given their extreme nationalism, they believe that France should be able to do anything it wants without interference from the outside world. The European Union has, in their opinion, infringed upon the national rights of France, and, again in their opinion, will eventually lead to the abolition of the French state. Looking closer beyond the simple statement of Anti-EU, one finds that they are extremely against the Euro, believing that; 1. it forces France to be subservient to the EU, and 2. if France still had their national currency, the Franc, they would have been protected from the Euro crash and their economy would have been preserved. They believe that France should not be beholden to the many agreements it has made with the rest of the EU, namely; it should not be forced to conduct free trade with other member states, they belief that the best way to strengthen the French economy is to impose tariffs on all other nations, 2. they believe that France should not be forced to have open borders with other member states, they claim that it allows foreign workers to come in and steal the jobs from the French citizens, 3. they oppose any international control or interference into any domestic issue or policy in France, they want a France run by and filled with French people. These beliefs are shared by a large portion of the voting public, in fact only 41% of the French population are in favor of the EU,(Economist) while neither of the two leading parties will speak out against it, again, this will likely lead to great gains for Front National in the near future.
In so far as globalization is concerned, Front National is even more vehemently opposed to influences outside of the EU entering France than they are with European influences. In particular they are extremely against America's influence around the world. They believe that America has far overstepped her bounds and should stop trying to police the world, they understand that France cannot really compete with America in any meaningful way given the disparity between the two, but they feel America should mind it's own business. They are staunchly opposed to the corruption of the French language which is slowly occurring due to the influx of American television and movies into France causing people's French to contain anglicisms which they believe will, if left unchecked, ultimately lead to the death of the French language. In essence they want France to be completely independent of any and all foreign influence so that it can be a country of French people, for French people, by French people. And a large number of French citizens agree, particularly on America, 73% of French citizens want France to take a more independent approach from the United States says the Pew polling agency (2012).
Finally the Front National believes in enforcing much stricter punishments for crimes of all sorts, including a no tolerance policy, and the re-institution of the death penalty for violent crimes.
In comparison to their American counterparts, Front National is much more mainstream than the Ku Klux Klan or the American Nazi Party, but less comparatively powerful than the Tea Party. They are actually able to participate at every level of French politics placing them above the KKK and ANP, but they have so far not seen any real power gained above the local level. While in America the Tea Party's sole goal seems to be to stop anything that the Democratic Party might suggest without necessarily offering any counter-proposal of their own, the Front National actually has a plan, they know what they want to do and they know how they plan to do it. Whether or not you agree with their actual politics you must admit that they are much better organized than the American groups and are much better suited to effective leadership than the ramshackle alliance of ultra-conservatives that is the Tea Party.