June 02, 2021

Right-Wing Populism in France and the US: A Comparative Perspective

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The French-American Foundation will host a Zoom Webinar on Wednesday, June 2 at 1:00 pm ET to discuss populist movements in the United States and France. The event will feature guest speaker Gilles Ivaldi, A CNRS-affiliated researcher in politics at the CEVIPOF-Sciences-Po in Paris. The discussion will be moderated by Jordan Becker (Young Leader ’14), Incoming Director of Research in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. RSVP below.

The rise of right-wing populism is one of the most significant political developments of the last decade. In Europe right-wing populist parties such as the French Rassemblement National have gained traction in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and, most importantly, during the 2015 migration crisis. In the United-States, populist themes and ideas have played an important role in Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and in his redefinition of the GOP.

Adopting a transatlantic perspective, this conference will discuss crucial aspects of the populist phenomenon and its recent manifestations in France and the United States, in the specific context produced by the Covid-19 pandemic, asking whether the current crisis may mark the end of the populist cycle in both countries.

Gilles Ivaldi: Gilles Ivaldi is a CNRS-affiliated researcher in politics at the CEVIPOF-Sciences-Po in Paris. He works on French politics, parties and elections, and has published extensively on the French Front National and the radical right in Europe. His current research interests also include the comparative study of the populist phenomenon in Western Europe and the United States in relation to processes of globalization and internationalization, and the intersection of populism and national sovereignty.

Jordan Becker: Jordan is a distinguished Foreign Service graduate and distinguished military graduate of Georgetown University. He has earned Master’s Degrees at Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and is pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy from King’s College, London.

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