Invoking direct democracy: Between appropriation and distinction— The radical far-right and the democratic demands of Yellow Vest protesters

Did the radical far-right faction of the Yellow Vests appropriate their democratic demands? Drawing on the case of the Paris mobilization, this article demonstrates that the modes of participation of the radical far-right need to be contextualized and situated within both the internal rivalries of the Yellow Vests movement and those of the far-right milieu itself. Conflictual coexistence with the “far-left” can contribute to the affirmation of a nationalist “we.” Furthermore, the invocation of direct democracy, far from being the exclusive prerogative of the so-called populist radical right, can serve as a marker of distinction in internal rivalries within the radical far-right.