The pretence of the cordon sanitaire: non-collaboration as a distraction from discursive congruence

Abstract

Much has been written about how mainstream parties respond to far-right challengers in liberal democracies. Whereas some mainstream parties have become more open to forming coalitions with far-right parties, in many countries collaboration with the far right remains ruled out. Often, the metaphor of the cordon sanitaire is used to highlight how mainstream parties form a bulwark against the far right. Yet whilst mainstream parties often exclude far right parties from government, they are more open to adopting some of their reactionary policies and discourses. We analyse these dynamics in the French, German and British cases. These give insights into how cordon sanitaires can be transgressed in policy and discourse in different political contexts. We argue that the concept itself should be scrutinised more closely and question whether parties can claim to be adhering to the cordon sanitaire if they simultaneously push far-right policies and discourses. Focusing primarily on electoral collaboration ignores processes of mainstreaming and normalisation in which the legitimation of far-right politics is chiefly driven by the mainstream itself. Where public outrage often emerges when mainstream parties formally collaborate with the far right, we argue that discursive dynamics are equally crucial and yet underestimated.