‘Ni droite, ni gauche’? - Debatten over het Franse fascisme

Abstract

Was France during the Interwar period ‘immune’ to fascism, or should it be considered one of the centres of fascist thinking in Europe? Was fascism in France fundamentally anti-bourgeois and ‘left wing’, or was it strongly related to traditional conservatism? These kinds of questions are still pivotal within the scolarly debate on French fascism, but at the same time research is also taking new directions. Through an overview of the historiographical debate on French fascism, this article analyses the development and the themes of an old discussion that is still raging strongly. Though the barriers between English and French language historians are far from gone, more mutual understanding must be possible. After all, only research taking into account political and intellectual history, programs of radical movements as well as ideas of non-conformist intellectuals, can provide meaningful answers to the big questions on French fascism.