"She is of her generation, " said Nonna Mayer, an expert on far-right politics at the Sciences Po University.

BBC: French rightists mull dynastic succession for Le Pen

"Mr. Sarkozy has bet he could replay the 2007 election, " said Emiliano Grossman of Sciences Po University in Paris.

WSJ: Sarkozy Fights for Survival

Mr Descoings had been the director of the Sciences Po institute, one of France's elite "grandes ecoles", since 1996.

BBC: French academic Descoings found dead in New York hotel

Richard Descoings was known for carrying out a programme of far-reaching reform at Sciences Po, which educates much of the French political, media and administrative elite.

BBC: French academic Descoings found dead in New York hotel

Nightlife in the upscale and centrally-located 6th arrondissement, where Sciences Po is located, is also popular among English-speaking students, who hang at the international-friendly bars Frog and Princess and Moose.

BBC: Best student cities: Paris

In a forthcoming study of voters undertaken after the recent presidential elections, Nonna Mayer, a professor at Sciences Po, argues that the increase in support for the National Front can almost entirely be put down to a shift in the allegiance of working-class women.

ECONOMIST: Women are flocking to Marine Le Pen

Pascal Perrineau, a political scientist at Sciences-Po university, makes the point that the French almost always back strikes, particularly at the start.

ECONOMIST: France