Ex-Colonials, Voluntary Associations, and Electoral Support for the Contemporary Far Right

Abstract

This article examines the effects of voluntary association on democratic politics and the social bases of support for the far right in the aftermath of European imperialism. Theoretical issues pertain to the historical sources of contemporary right-wing extremism, the conditional relationship between voluntary associations and democracy, and the problem of translating social structure into the structure of party politics. Exploratory and confirmatory (OLS) analyses of individual-level data on voting in the 2002 presidential and parliamentary elections in France show that support for the far right was high among European ex-colonials. Within this social category, however, levels of far-right support varied by type of association membership. Support was higher among those belonging only to associations that value the colonial past; conversely, there was no far-right voting among respondents belonging only to associations that expose them to cross-cutting influences. The analysis also reveals the independent importance of racial prejudice, and the relative unimportance of background variables (sex, age, occupation, education, union membership, Church attendance). Comparative implications of the findings are discussed with respect to other European countries that decolonized after 1945, particularly Portugal.