Abstract

Alain de Benoist offers an insightful account of important changes that have taken place in recent years in French political discourse. The focus (and the title) of his article, however, are misleading, for they draw attention to a manifestation of these changes, not to their cause. Though the categories of Left and Right have undoubtedly fallen out of favor in France, the blurring of these categories should not cloud our perception of the larger dynamics at play, or lead us to mistake a temporary weakening of the Left-Right dichotomy for its final eradication.

As Benoist points at the outset, the Left-Right dichotomy appears discredited even among certain advocates of traditionally “leftist” ideas.