While most analyses of the French National Front (NF) see it as a threat to democracy, the exact nature of this threat has never been clearly defined. Drawing on interviews with leading far right figures and access to internal party documents, this book identifies the NF as a modern fascist party. The authors produce an uncompromising assessment of attempts to confront the NF and explain how it emerged as the leading challenger to a discredited mainstream in the 2002 presidential election.