Stuart Norval is pleased to welcome Dr. Andrew Smith, Historian of Modern France and Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. What stands out to our guest is not just that the Socialists held Paris, but how they did so: by resisting opportunistic alliances and instead presenting a coherent, independent platform rooted in credibility and local recognition. According to Dr. Smith, the narrative of far-right inevitability is overstated. While they continue to make strategic inroads in small cities, these results demonstrate that their ascent is neither uniform nor guaranteed.