Authoritarian conservatism
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Conservatism |
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Authoritarian conservatism is a political ideology that seeks to uphold
Although the concept of authority has been identified as a core tenet of conservatism in general,[5][6] authoritarian conservatism is only one of many different forms of conservatism. It is contrasted with libertarian conservatism, which is the most common form of conservatism in the United States.[7]
Ideology
Historical roots
The two philosophical forefathers of conservatism, Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre, inspired two separate forms of conservatism. Whereas the first was rooted in a more libertarian Whig tradition, the latter was ultramontane, ultra-royalist, and ultimately authoritarian.[8]
G. W. F. Hegel has also been identified as one of the most important conservative philosophers.[9][10] Especially his work Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1821) has exerted a powerful influence over conservative ideology.[11] Hegel inspired right-wing authoritarians such as Rudolf Kjellén in Sweden[12] and Giovanni Gentile in Italy.[13] Classical liberals have been critical of Hegel: Karl Popper identified him as the chief ideologue of the authoritarian Prussian state and considered him one of the main ideological enemies of an open society,[14] and Isaiah Berlin accused him as being one of the architects of modern authoritarianism.[15]
Modern exponents
German political theorist Carl Schmitt advocated authoritarian conservatism.[16][17] Referred to as "an acute observer and analyst of the weaknesses of liberal constitutionalism" by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Schmitt was a critic of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, and cosmopolitanism.[18] He developed a political theology around concepts such as sovereignty, claiming that "sovereign is he who decides on the exception" and arguing for a dictatorial presidential power who could step outside the rule of law under a state of exception.[19]
Italian esoteric traditionalist Julius Evola is another influential authoritarian conservative philosopher.[20]
Relation to fascism
Authoritarian conservative movements were prominent in the same era as fascism, with which it sometimes clashed.[21] Although both ideologies shared core values such as nationalism and had common enemies such as communism and materialism, there was nonetheless a contrast between the traditionalist nature of authoritarian conservatism and the revolutionary, palingenetic and populist nature of fascism—thus it was common for authoritarian conservative regimes to suppress rising fascist and Nazi movements.[22][23] The hostility between the two ideologies is highlighted by the struggle for power in Austria, which was marked by the assassination of ultra-Catholic statesman Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis. Likewise, Croatian fascists assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.[24]
Edmund Fawcett explains the difference between fascism and authoritarian conservatism as follows:
Fascism, to schematize, is a form of
anti-liberalism to extremes. The right-wing authoritarian is a conservative who takes fear of democracy to extremes.[25]
The authoritarian conservative right is distinguished from fascism in that such conservatives tended to use traditional religion as the basis for their philosophical views, while fascists based their views on vitalism, irrationalism, or secular neo-idealism.[26] Fascists often drew upon religious imagery, but used it as a symbol for the nation and replaced spirituality with ultranationalism and statolatry. Even in the most religious of the fascist movements, the Romanian Iron Guard, "Christ was stripped of genuine otherworldly mystery and was reduced to a metaphor for national redemption."[27]
A term used by some scholars is
History
Africa
Togo
The Rally of the Togolese People was the ruling political party in Togo from 1969 to 2012. It was founded by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma and headed by his son, President Faure Gnassingbé, after the former's death in 2005. Faure Gnassingbé replaced the RPT with a new ruling party, the national-conservative Union for the Republic, in April 2012, dissolving the RPT.[30][31]
Asia
Cambodia
The
China
Iran
The
South Korea
Europe
Belgium
The
Bulgaria
Finland
In the
The Lapua Movement was a radical Finnish nationalist, pro-German, and anti-communist political movement.[38][39] Led by Vihtori Kosola, it turned towards far-right politics after its founding and was banned after a failed coup d'etat attempt in 1932.[40] The Peasant March was a demonstration in Helsinki, attended by more than 12,000 supporters from all over the country with the intention to put pressure on the Finnish government to suppress communism in the country.
Germany
The Conservative Revolution was an influential ideological movement during the Weimar Republic. Although usually characterized with terms such as radical, revolutionary, ultra, and romantic, the movement also had elements of authoritarianism.[41] For example, Arthur Moeller van den Bruck published the influential book Das Dritte Reich (1923) in which he advocated a "Third Reich" that would unite all German classes under an authoritarian rule.[42]
Greece
The
Romania
The National Renaissance Front was a Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania. Largely reflecting Carol's own political choices, the FRN was the last of several attempts to counter the popularity of the fascist and antisemitic Iron Guard.[44] As Carol witnessed the failure of European countries to defend themselves from Nazi German advances, consecrated by the Anschluss and the Munich Agreement, he ordered the Iron Guard, whom he perceived as a fifth column for Nazi Germany, to be decapitated: during the following days, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and the majority of top-ranking Guardists were assassinated.[45][46]
Ukraine
Authoritarian
Latin America
Chile
During the
North America
United States
Mainstream conservatism in the United States was always strongly influenced by libertarian ideals. Indeed, historian Leo P. Ribuffo notes, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism".[50] The topic of authoritarianism is therefore controversial within the American conservative movement. John Dean, a critic of Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, writes in Conservatives without Conscience (2006):
Social conservatism and neoconservatism have revived authoritarian conservatism, and not for the better of conservatism or American democracy. True conservatism is cautious and prudent. Authoritarianism is rash and radical. American democracy has benefited from true conservatism, but authoritarianism offers potentially serious trouble for any democracy.[51]
Psychology
The
See also
References
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- ^ Benedetto Croce, Guide to Aesthetics, Translated by Patrick Romanell, "Translator's Introduction," The Library of Liberal Arts, The Bobbs–Merrill Co., Inc., 1965
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- ^ Berlin, Isaiah (2003). Freedom and Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty. Princeton University Press.
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- ^ Vinx, Lars (29 August 2019). "Carl Schmitt". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ Vagts, D., "Carl Schmitt's Ultimate Emergency: The Night of the Long Knives" (2012), The Germanic Review 87(2), p. 203.
- ^ Furlong, Paul (2005). "Authoritarian Conservatism After The War: Julius Evola and Europe". Collingwood and British Idealism Studies. 11 (2): 5–26.
- ^ Martin Blinkhorn. Fascists and Conservatives: The Radical Right and the Establishment in Twentieth-Century Europe. Reprinted edition. Oxon, England: Routledge, 1990, 2001. p. 10
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- ^ Yvette Attiogbé (April 14, 2012). "The Dissolution of the RPT – It is Official". togo-online.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 9, 2013.
- ^ Folly Mozolla (April 15, 2012). "Faure Gnassingbé has created his party Union pour la République (UNIR) in Atakpamé". togo-online.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 7, 2013.
- ^ Kiernan, B. How Pol Pot came to power, Yale UP, 2004, p.348
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- ^ Majuru, Adrian. Romanians and Hungarians: Legislation, Everyday Life and Stereotypes in Interwar Transilvania. Babeş-Bolyai University.
- ^ Butnaru, Ion C., The Silent Holocaust: Romania and Its Jews (1992), Praeger/Greenwood: Westport, pp. 62–63
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- ^ Guy-Meakin, Amelia (2012-09-17). "Augusto Pinochet and the Support of Chilean Right-Wing Women". E-International Relations.
- ^ "Cuando despertó, el Pinochetismo todavía estaba ahí « Diario y Radio Universidad Chile". radio.uchile.cl (in European Spanish). 18 December 2018.
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