Emerging neo-nationalist trends in contemporary liberal democracies: empirical findings on academic freedom in France

Within the framework of the research project “Asserting the Nation: comparative studies on the rise of neo-nationalism in higher education”, this paper will discuss empirical data collected in France during the spring 2022. As witnessed in several European countries (e.g. Van der Wende, 2021; Brøgger 2021), the effects of emerging neo-nationalist trends have been unfolding in three main areas of higher education: institutional governance, international engagement and academic freedom. This presentation of the French case will focus on the latter, with the intent to explore recent developments observed in the government’s discourse on academic freedom and their ramifications within the higher education system. With the term “neo-nationalism”, the social anthropologists Andre Gingrich and Mark Banks (2006) sought to define those “new and recent variants of nationalism” (p.2) that most scholarly works had been labelling as “new-right” forces. According to Gingrich, these emerging parties shared a distinct hostility towards EU authorities, a common anti-immigrant platform and related “pro-law-and-order elements” (Gingrich, 2006, p. 215). Later works have added to Gingrich’s conceptualisation, highlighting how neo-nationalist forces have now shifted from an anti-welfare position towards the economic left, embracing welfare chauvinism (Eger and Valdez, 2015). Underlying the few features listed above, is the core element of national identity and the desire to preserve what is held to be constitutive of this identity. During the last two years, French academics have been increasingly targeted by political figures – including high-ranking government officials – accusing universities of working against the unity and values of the Republic. Whereas most commentators interpreted the government’s discursive shift as part of a broader electoral strategy, a more in-depth enquiry was deemed necessary. The study relies on qualitative interviews with representatives of both government bodies and higher education institutions in order to understand how policy officials working within and on behalf of the ministries articulate their discourse on academic freedom and how they perceive its role in connection to the values – and interests – of the Nation. Concurrently, interviews conducted within higher education institutions aimed to measure the ramifications of the government’s discourse as they are perceived by academics themselves. Coupled by extensive policy document analysis, qualitative interviewing was planned in close cooperation with the research group, aiming to work within a coherent comparative framework, grounded on a relational and context-sensitive approach (Valimaa and Nokkala, 2014). Through an examination of the discourses around academic freedom in France, the paper will shed light on the extent to which neo-nationalist trends are able to develop within long-established liberal democracies and under the auspices of governing parties that are far from being categorized – and even less define themselves - as nationalist.