Théo Bourgeron
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theobourgeron.bsky.social
Théo Bourgeron
@theobourgeron.bsky.social
690 followers 1.9K following 37 posts
Apologetic academic
Researching health, financial capitalism, the far-right at the University of Edinburgh
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theobourgeron.bsky.social
Thanks Matthias Thiemann, Antoine Guironnet & Cyril Benoit for the invitation at @sciencespo-cee.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 8:20 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
The talk will take place on Thursday 11 December, 12:30-14:00 CET in person (room K.008, 1 place Saint-Thomas d'Aquin) and remotely. Registration link for Zoom: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
While the literature has associated the far-right with small business owners, the past decade has seen prominent figures of big business rally behind far-right movements, from Vincent Bolloré to Pierre-Edouard Stérin and the Meeschaert family. This article re-evaluates the relationship between the far right and business circles by exploring the ties that French far-right parties (Rassemblement National, Reconquête, UDR) maintain with fractions of the capitalist class. Drawing on scholarship on social blocs and business elites, the article shows that these parties rely on three hierarchically structured coalitions: (1) a core coalition of major business interests, characterized by their involvement in sectors such as alternative finance, fossil and nuclear energy, and domestic tech; (2) an extended coalition of businesses, characterised by a tension between the interests of large corporations (promoted by UDR and Reconquête) and those of small, family-owned, domestically oriented firms with traditional far-right leanings (promoted by Rassemblement National); (3) an electoral coalition constituted with petite bourgeoisie and upper working class groups. The article draws on four sources of empirical data to capture the various fractions of the business class involved in the development of the French far-right: an exhaustive review of press coverage concerning links between big business and the far right, complemented by economic biographies of the business leaders mentioned; a database of economically oriented amendments submitted by far-right deputies between 2022 and 2025; an analysis of the parties’ economic proposals across different sectors; and a second-hand analysis of the electoral base of the party. In complement to a literature focused on the motivations of far-right’s voters, this article sheds light on the economic forces underpinning the far-right party, the transformations it envisions in French capitalism, and the contradictions that emerge.
December 2, 2025 at 8:20 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
Avec Boris Le Roy, Orit Halpern, Elie Ayache, @blazefutures.bsky.social @provokedeconomy.bsky.social @ariskomporozos.bsky.social & Geraldine Juarez
November 26, 2025 at 8:31 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
thanks, Jonathan!
September 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
And for the picture of the first post, alt-text: a table of business people surrounding Donald and Melania Trump in the White House
September 23, 2025 at 11:10 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
Many thanks to @busedoyu.bsky.social @tgpb.bsky.social Vladimir Bortun @allartmarkets.bsky.social for their help, invitation, careful reading of the paper in earlier stages!
September 23, 2025 at 9:02 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social

I go through these questions in the paper, reviewing the literature about the intersections between businesses and the far-right. The article figures in the excellent company of @philiproscoe.bsky.social 's "Markets after neoliberalism".

Find my paper below: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
September 23, 2025 at 9:02 AM
theobourgeron.bsky.social
Thanks Geraldine :)
September 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM