New Right
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New Right is used in several countries as a descriptive term for various forms of conservative, right-wing, or self-proclaimed dissident oppositional movements and groups that emerged in the mid- to late twentieth century.
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[edit] New Right by country
[edit] Australia
In Australia the "New Right" refers to a movement in the late 1970s and 1980s which advocated economically liberal and increased socially conservative policies (as opposed to the "old right" which advocated economically conservative policies), and small-l liberals with more socially liberal views. Unlike the United Kingdom and United States, but like neighbouring New Zealand, the Australian Labor Party initiated many "New Right" policy reforms (the Third Way), but desisted from others, such as wholesale labour market deregulation (eg WorkChoices), a GST, the privatisation of Telstra and welfare reform including "work for the dole", which John Howard and the Liberal Party of Australia were to initiate since they won office in 1996.
Economic liberalism, also called Economic Rationalism in Australia, was first used by Labor's Gough Whitlam.[1] It is a philosophy which tends to advocate a free market economy, increased deregulation, privatisation, lower direct taxation and higher indirect taxation, and a reduction of the size of the Welfare State. The politicians favouring New Right ideology were referred to as "dries", while those advocating continuation of the economic policies of the post-war consensus were called "wets" (the term "wets" was similarly used in Britain to refer to those Conservatives who opposed Thatcherite economic policies, but "dries" in this context was much rarer in British usage).
[edit] Croatia
In Croatia there is a political party named "Croatian New Right", whose leader is a philosophical-political writer, Mladen Schwartz(Croatian Jew). The semi-official organ of the party is the monthly ("Ultimatum!"), which also publishes articles in non-Croatian languages.
[edit] France
In France, the New Right (or Nouvelle Droite) has been used as a term to describe a modern think-tank of French political philosophers and intellectuals led by Alain de Benoist. Although accused by some critics as being "far-right" in their beliefs, they themselves claim that their ideas transcend the traditional "left/right" divide and actively encourages free debate.
[edit] Germany
In Germany the "Neue Rechte" (literally new right) consists of two parts the "Jungkonservative" (lit. young conservatives), who search for followers in the civically part of the population and the other part is the "Nationalrevolutionäre" (national revolutionists), who are looking for followers in the ultra-right part of the German population, and use the rhetorics of right-wing politicians such as Gregor and Otto Strasser.
[edit] Netherlands
The New Right is the name of a political party in the Netherlands.
[edit] New Zealand
In New Zealand, as in Australia, it was the ostensibly social democratic Labour Party that initially adopted "New Right" economic policies, while also pursuing social liberal stances such as decriminalisation of male homosexuality, pay equity for women and adopting a nuclear-free policy. This meant temporary realignment within New Zealand politics, as "New Right" middle-class voters voted Labour at the New Zealand general election 1987 due to approval of its economic policies. At first, Labour corporatised many former government departments and state assets, then emulated the Conservative Thatcher administration and privatised them altogether during Labour's second term of office. However, recession and privatisation together led to increasing strains within the Labour Party, which led to schism, and the exit of Jim Anderton and his NewLabour Party, which later formed part of the Alliance Party with the Greens and other opponents of New Right economics.
However, dissent and schism were not to be limited to the Labour Party and Alliance Party alone. During the Labour Party's second term in office, National selected Ruth Richardson as Opposition finance spokesperson, and when National won the 1990 general election, Richardson became Minister of Finance, while Jenny Shipley became Minister of Social Welfare. Richardson introduced deunionisation legislation, known as the Employment Contracts Act, in 1991, while Shipley presided over social welfare benefit cuts, designed to reduce "welfare dependency" - both core New Right policy initiatives.
In the early nineties, maverick National MP Winston Peters also came to oppose New Right economic policies, and led his elderly voting bloc out of the National Party. As a result, his New Zealand First anti-monetarist party has become a coalition partner to both National (1996 - 1998) and Labour (2005- ) led coalition governments. Due to the introduction of the MMP electoral system, a New Right "Association of Consumers and Taxpayers" party, known as ACT New Zealand was formed by ex-Labour New Right-aligned Cabinet Ministers like Richard Prebble and others, and maintaining existing New Right policy initiatives such as the Employment Contracts Act, while also introducing US-style "welfare reform." ACT New Zealand aspired to become National's centre-right coalition partner, but has been hampered by lack of party unity and populist leadership that often lacked strategic direction.
As for Labour and National themselves, their fortunes have been mixed. Labour was out of office for most of the nineties, only regaining power when Helen Clark led it to victory and a Labour/Alliance coalition and centre-left government (1999 - 2002). However, the Alliance disintegrated in 2002.
National was defeated in 1999 due to the absence of a suitable, stable coalition partner given New Zealand First's partial disintegration after Winston Peters abandoned the prior National-led coalition. When Bill English took over National, it was thought that he might lead the Opposition away from its prior hardline New Right economic and social policies, but his indecisiveness and lack of firm policy direction led to ACT New Zealand gaining the New Right middle-class voting basis in 2002. When Don Brash took over, New Right middle-class voters returned to National's fold, causing National's revival in fortunes at the New Zealand general election 2005. However, at the same time, ACT New Zealand strongly criticised it for deviating from its former New Right economic policy perspectives, and at the same election, National did little to enable ACT's survival. ACT currently has two Members of Parliament, and its survival depends on whether or not ACT leader Rodney Hide can retain his Epsom electorate seat at the next general election. Furthermore, Don Brash resigned as National party leader, being replaced by John Key, who is seen as a more moderate National MP.
As for the centre-left, Helen Clark and her Labour-led coalition have been criticised from ex-Alliance members and non-government organisations for their alleged lack of attention to centre-left social policies, while trade union membership has recovered due to Labour's repeal of the Employment Contracts Act 1991 and labour market deregulation and the deunionisation that had accompanied it in the nineties. It is plausible that Clark and her Cabinet are influenced by Tony Blair and his British Labour Government, which pursues a similar balancing act between social and fiscal responsibility while in government.
[edit] Romania
In Romania, there is a nationalist organization called "Noua Dreaptă" (New Right). The organization was founded in 2000. In 2006 the organization displayed its most important show of force by staging a peaceful anti-gay rally in Bucharest. The organization uses the paraphernalia of interwar Iron Guard and practices a cult of personality the slain Iron Guard leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. Noua Dreaptă is an active member of the far-right European National Front, the coalition of neo-nazi political parties in Europe.
[edit] United Kingdom
Philosophy: New Right ideas were developed in the early eighties and took a distinctive view of elements of society such as family, education, crime and deviance. In the United Kingdom, the term New Right more specifically refers to a strand of Conservatism that the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan influenced. Thatcher's style of New Right ideology, known as Thatcherism, was heavily influenced by the work of Friedrich Hayek (in particular the book The Road to Serfdom). They were ideologically committed to neo-liberalism as well as being socially conservative. Key policies included deregulation of business, a dismantling of the welfare state, privatization of nationalized industries and restructuring of the national workforce in order to increase industrial and economic flexibility in an increasingly global market. Similar policies were continued by the subsequent Conservative government under John Major and the mark of the New Right is evident in the New Labour government of the present.
Influential figures:
Ronald Reagan - President of the USA
James Q. Wilson - advisor to Reagan. Ideas very unpopular among British sociologists
Margaret Thatcher - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Charles Murray - New Right theorist, spoke about family, crime and deviance
George Erdos Norman Dennis - a few of New Right thinkers who were sociologists rather than politicians and journalists. Wrote about families without fathers.
John Redwood - Conservative MP
Chubb and Moe - New right theorists that spoke about education
Family - Much like functionalists, New Right theorists see the family as the cornerstone of society. The nuclear family is the ‘normal family’ in the view of the New Right. For example, according to John Redwood: ‘the natural state should be the two-adult family caring for their children’. The New Right sees the family in a state of deterioration. They point to the following evidence to support their claims: lone-parent families, fatherless families and divorce rates.
Dennis and Erdos say that fatherless families result in disadvantages for their children. On average they have poorer health and low educational attainment. This lack of a father potentially leads to irresponsible, immature and anti-social young men. Criticisms of the New Right views on the family include arguments that they tend to blame the victims of disadvantaged families, and that they hold an idealized view of the past.
Crime and Deviance
‘Thinking about Crime’ 1975 James Q Wilson Wilson denies that trying to eradicate evils such as poverty will help to reduce crime. According to him programs to reduce poverty in the US lead to subsequent rising levels of crime. He therefore believes crime can neither be explained nor tackled by the nanny state. Wilson sees crime as a result of rational calculations. People will commit crime if the benefits outweigh the risk involved. Therefore suggesting remedies like harsher sentences would help resolve crime. Wilson sees the main problems of crime as undermining communities ‘prevents the formation and maintenance of community’ . With the absence of community crime rates sore.
Murray 1990, 2001 According to Murray increased numbers of young, healthy, low-income choose not to take jobs but instead turn to crime, in particular street crime, and regular drug abuse. According to Murray this is a result of the increase of lone parent families without a father figure. As a result the young males lack a role models that demonstrate how to live in society correctly. Murray believes the welfare dependency that these young men have lived on throughout their childhood has lead them to a lack of work ethos and subsequently pushed them towards a life of crime.
Wilson 1985 In Wilson’s more recent work he has moved towards a biological explanation for the causes of crime. He argues that people are born with a natural predisposition for crime. This potential can only be realised through poor socialization provided by inadequate families, e.g. single parent families. Wilson also goes on to say how the welfare state has led to the easy life for many people. there is no longer the hard work needed to hold down a job and one can live solely off the state. Also from an increasingly affluent society the potential gains of crime are increasing and thus more inviting people to a life of crime.
[edit] United States
In the United States, the New Right refers to a conservative political movement that coalesced through grassroots organizing in the years preceding the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. The Goldwater campaign, though failing to unseat incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, galvanized the formation of a new political movement. In elite think-tanks and local community organizations alike, new policies, marketing strategies, and electoral strategies were crafted over the succeeding decades. The New Right got a policy approach and electoral apparatus that brought Ronald Reagan into the White House in the 1980 presidential election. The American New Right is distinct from and opposed to the more moderate tradition of the so-called Rockefeller Republicans. The New Right also differs from the Old Right on issues concerning foreign policy with the New Right being opposed to the non-interventionism of the Old Right. Though mostly ignored by scholars until the late 1980s, the formation of the New Right is now one of the fastest-growing areas of historical research.
[edit] Ukraine
In Ukraine there is a metapolitical organization named "Ukrainian New Right - Mesogaia", whose leader is a philosophical-political writer, Oleg Gutsulyak. The semi-official organs of the party is the monthlies ("Mesogaia"), ("LNE-UA") which also publishes articles in Ukrainian and Russian languages. Ukrainian New Right are collaborate with the Eastern European Metapolitical Assotiation New Right "Thule-Sarmatia" [1] (Ukraine - Bulgaria - Russia - Azerbajdzhan - Tatarstan).
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- New Right - articles on New Right movements.
