In France’s 2022 presidential election, voters in almost all the overseas territories backed Marine Le Pen in the second round, after Jean-Luc Mélenchon led in the first. The shift surprised observers given the territories’ histories of slavery and colonisation and the National Rally’s positions, described in the book as xenophobic and racist.
Anatomie politique des outre-mer. De la contestation périphérique de l’Etat aux insuffisances de la gouvernance locale, published by Le Cavalier bleu, examines the political forces behind that change. The 296-page book is edited by Fred Constant, head of the law and political science department at the University of the Antilles.
The contributors point to shared daily hardships and a sense of being relegated to the margins. They argue that these conditions, alongside the exhaustion of the economic model shaping the overseas territories, have fuelled rejection of traditional parties and intermediary bodies. The RN was able to draw on that protest vote, including opposition to Emmanuel Macron’s politics.
Sources: Le Monde Politique.