Syncretic politics

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Syncretic politics or spectral-syncretic refers to a form of politics outside of the conventional left-right political spectrum.[1][2] Syncretic politics advocates a synthesis of ideas on issues ranging from the left to the right that form a combined mixed position that is neither mainly nor wholly left-wing, right-wing, nor centrist.[3] This term is especially used by some scholars to describe the political nature of fascism.[4][5] Syncretic politics has also been used to describe contemporary Third Way politics of political figures such as Bill Clinton.[6]

Contents

Syncretic fascism

Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but Italian fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s.[7][8] Mussolini in 1919 described fascism as a movement that would strike "against the backwardness of the right and the destructiveness of the left".[9][10] Italian Fascists described fascism as a right-wing ideology in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century."[11][12] However they also officially declared that although they were "sitting on the right" they were generally indifferent to their position on the left-right spectrum, as being a conclusion of their combination of views rather than an objective, and considering it insignificant to their basis of their views that they claimed could just as easily be associated with "the mountain of the center" as with the right.[13]

The Nazi Party and Nazism were presented by Hitler and other proponents as being neither left-wing nor right-wing but syncretic.[14][15] Hitler in Mein Kampf directly attacked both left-wing and right-wing politics in Germany, saying: "Today our left-wing politicians in particular are constantly insisting that their craven-hearted and obsequious foreign policy necessarily results from the disarmament of Germany, whereas the truth is that this is the policy of traitors [...] But the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms."[16] However a majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as being a far right form of politics.[17]

The Falange of Spain presented itself as syncretic.[18] Falangism has attacked both the left and the right as its "enemies", declaring itself to be neither left nor right, but a third position.[19] However scholarly sources reviewing Falangism place it on the political right.[20]

Third Way progressivism

Syncretic politics has been used to describe contemporary Third Way politics of political figures such as former United States President Bill Clinton.[21] Clinton's approach to politics moved beyond left versus right by adopting a concept of "tolerant traditionalism" that advocated a syncretic blend of left-wing and right-wing ideals such as stability, tradition, loyalty, nationalism, anti-imperialism, gender equality, social justice, and personal liberty.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ Roger Griffin. Fascism. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 8, 307.
  2. ^ Aristotle A. Kallis. The fascism reader. New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 71
  3. ^ Aristotle A. Kallis. The fascism reader. New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 79-80.
  4. ^ Roger Griffin. Fascism. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 8, 307.
  5. ^ Aristotle A. Kallis. The fascism reader. New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 71
  6. ^ Bernard Schweizer. Rebecca West today: contemporary critical approaches. University of Delaware Press, 2007. Pp. 30.
  7. ^ Sternhell, Zeev, Mario Sznajder and Maia Ashéri, The Birth of Fascist Ideology: From Cultural Rebellion to Political Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1994) p. 161.
  8. ^ Borsella, Cristogianni and Adolph Caso. Fascist Italy: A Concise Historical Narrative (Wellesley, Massachusetts: Branden Books, 2007) p. 76.
  9. ^ http://varldenshistoria.se/stine-overbye/fascismen-borjar-gro
  10. ^ Stanislao G. Pugliese. Fascism, anti-fascism, and the resistance in Italy: 1919 to the present. Oxford, England, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2004. 43–44.
  11. ^ Schnapp, Jeffrey Thompson, Olivia E. Sears, Maria G. Stampino, A Primer of Italian Fascism (University of Nebraska Press, 2000. p. 57). Quote: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century,"
  12. ^ Benito Mussolini. Fascism: Dctrine and Institutions. (Rome, Italy: Ardita Publishers, 1935) p. 26. Quote from the Doctrine of Fascism: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century."
  13. ^ Mussolini quoted in: Gentile, Emilio. The origins of Fascist ideology, 1918-1925. Enigma Books, 2005. p. 205
  14. ^ Adolf Hitler, Max Domarus, Patrick Romane (ed). The essential Hitler: speeches and commentary. Waulconda, Illinois, USA: Bolchazi-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2007 Pp. 170.
  15. ^ Rudy Koshar. Social life, local politics, and Nazism: Marburg, 1880-1935. University of North Carolina Press, 1986. Pp. 190.
  16. ^ Adolf Hitler. Mein Kampf. Bottom of the Hill Publishing, 2010. Pp. 287.
  17. ^ Fritzsche, Peter. 1998. Germans into Nazis. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; Eatwell, Roger, Fascism, A History, Viking/Penguin, 1996, pp. xvii-xxiv, 21, 26–31, 114–140, 352. Griffin, Roger. 2000. "Revolution from the Right: Fascism," chapter in David Parker (ed.) Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition in the West 1560-1991, Routledge, London.
  18. ^ Paloma Aguilar. Memory in Amnesia: The Role of the Spanish Civil War in the Transition to Democracy. Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Berghahn Books, 2002. Pp.
  19. ^ Roger Griffin (ed). Fascism. Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 189.
  20. ^ Rodney P. Carlisle (general editor). The Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, Volume 2: The Right. Thousand Oaks, California, USA; London, England, UK; New Delhi, India: Sage Publications, 2005. Pp. 633.
  21. ^ Bernard Schweizer. Rebecca West today: contemporary critical approaches. University of Delaware Press, 2007. Pp. 30.
  22. ^ Bernard Schweizer. Rebecca West today: contemporary critical approaches. University of Delaware Press, 2007. Pp. 30.