Jean-Marie Le Pen, erstwhile leader of France’s political party National Front (now National Rally), died on Tuesday at the age of 96. For more than 50 years, Le Pen was a mainstay in French politics, known for his outspoken views on limiting immigration to France and Europe. Quick-witted and incendiary, his surprise elevation to the runoff in the 2002 presidential election in France showed that he was an instrument of populist discontent.
The rebranded party he founded is on the rise in French politics as France confronts major social unrest and a strained economic situation. The country experienced mass unrest and riots in 2023 when French police killed a 17-year-old French citizen who was of North African descent. And the specter of terrorist attacks continues to hang over the entire nation after the terrorist attack on history teacher Samuel Paty in 2020 and the…
