New Right is used in several countries as a descriptive term for various policies and/or groups that are right-wing. It has also been used to describe the emergence of Eastern European parties after the collapse of communism.
Australia
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
the "New Right" refers to a movement in the late 1970s and 1980s which advocated
economically liberalEconomic liberalism is the economic component of classical liberalism. It is the political and economic philosophy that supports and promotes the economic system of capitalism, in the laissez-faire sense...
and increased
socially conservativeSocial conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes government and/or society have a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. A second meaning of the term social conservatism developed...
policies (as opposed to the "old right" which advocated
economically conservativeEconomic conservatism is a term used to describe government intervention on economic affairs. This term is used contrastingly to economic liberalism, which states a laissez-faire ideology....
policies), and
small-l liberalThe term small-l liberal, or wet, or moderate is used, particularly in reference to Australian and Canadian politics, to distinguish between holders of an ideology of liberalism and adherents to either the Liberal Party of Australia or the Liberal Party of Canada...
s with more
socially liberalSocial liberalism, a reformulation of 19th century liberalism, rests on the view that unrestrained capitalism is a hindrance to true freedom. Instead of the negative freedom of classical liberalism, social liberals offered positive freedom that would allow individuals to prosper with public...
views. Unlike the United Kingdom and United States, but like neighbouring New Zealand, the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
initiated many "New Right" policy reforms (the
Third WayThe Third Way is a term that has been used to describe a political position which attempts to transcend left-wing and right-wing politics by advocating a mix of some left-wing and right-wing policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed as representing a centrist compromise between capitalism...
), but desisted from others, such as wholesale labour market deregulation (eg
WorkChoicesThe Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, or WorkChoices, which came into effect in March 2006, was a comprehensive change to industrial relations in Australia....
), a
GSTThe GST is a value added tax of 10% on most goods and services transactions in Australia.It was introduced by the Howard Government on 1 July 2000, replacing the previous Federal wholesale sales tax system and designed to phase out a number of various State and Territory Government taxes, duties...
, the privatisation of
TelstraTelstra or Telstra Corporation Ltd , is an Australian telecommunications and media company, formerly owned by the Australian government...
and
welfare reform-Welfare reform in the United States:-The Welfare System and reform in Great Britain:Social welfare is administered in three ways in Great Britain, the National Health Service, the Social Services program, and the Pensions Service program all play a part in the providing social welfare.-The three...
including "
work for the doleWork for the Dole is an Australian federal government program that is a form of workfare, work-based welfare. It was first permanently enacted in 1998, having been trialed in 1997....
", which
John HowardJohn Winston Howard, AC was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
and the
Liberal Party of AustraliaThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
were to initiate. The
H. R. Nicholls SocietyThe H.R. Nicholls Society is a Australian think tank of the New Right on industrial relations. It was created in March 1986 after John Stone, Peter Costello, Barrie Purvis, and Ray Evans organised a seminar aimed at discussing the Hancock Report and other industrial matters.The Society is named...
, a think tank which advocates full workplace deregulation, contains some Liberal MPs as members and is seen to be of the New Right.
Economic liberalismEconomic liberalism is the economic component of classical liberalism. It is the political and economic philosophy that supports and promotes the economic system of capitalism, in the laissez-faire sense...
, also called
Economic RationalismEconomic rationalism is an Australian term in discussion of microeconomic policy, applicable to the economic policy of many governments around the world, in particular during the 1980s and 1990s....
in Australia, was first used by Labor's
Gough WhitlamEdward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , is a former Australian politician, representing the New South Wales seat of Werriwa, and 21st Prime Minister of Australia....
. It is a philosophy which tends to advocate a free market economy, increased
deregulationDeregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
, privatisation, lower direct taxation and higher indirect taxation, and a reduction of the size of the
Welfare StateThe Welfare State of the United Kingdom was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease....
. The politicians favouring New Right ideology were referred to as "dries", while those advocating continuation of the economic policies of the
post-war consensusThe post-war consensus is a name given by historians to an era in British political history which lasted from the end of World War II in 1945 to the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979....
, typically Keynesian economics, and/or were more socially liberal, were called "wets" (the term "wets" was similarly used in Britain to refer to those
ConservativesThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
who opposed Thatcherite economic policies, but "dries" in this context was much rarer in British usage).
Croatia
New political Forum/Group /think-tank has been formed in Croatia. This Forum draws mainly inspiration from thinkers and politicians who are virtually unknown in todays Croatia such as: Dr. Ivo Pilar,Dr. Milan pl. Sufflay,Kerubin Segvic,Stjepan Freiherr Sarkotic von Lovcen, modern Croatian thinkers such as: Tomislav Jonjic, and intellectuals such as: Julius Evola. Main inspiration behind the group are: Dr. Tomislav Sunic and outside of Croatia: Alain De Benoist and Georges Dumezil.
France
In
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the New Right (or
Nouvelle DroiteNouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
) has been used as a term to describe a modern think-tank of
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
political philosophers and intellectuals led by
Alain de BenoistAlain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist bills himself as a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
. Although accused by some critics as being "far-right" in their beliefs, they themselves claim that their ideas transcend the traditional "
leftIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
/
rightIn politics, right-wing, political right, rightist and the Right are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for preserving traditional or cultural values and customs or for maintaining some form of social hierarchy or private...
" divide and actively encourages free debate.
Germany
In Germany, the "
Neue RechteNeue Rechte is a German political movement, founded as opposition to the New Left generation of the 1960s. Ideologically, they are linked to the ideologues of the Weimar Conservative Revolution, which included such people as Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler and Ernst von Salomon...
" (literally, new right) consists of two parts: the "Jungkonservative" (literally, young conservatives), who search for followers in the civically part of the population; and, secondly, 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.
Netherlands
The
New RightNieuw Rechts was a nationalist Dutch political party, founded by Michiel Smit in 2003.-History:Michiel Smit was secretary of Pim Fortuyn's local Leefbaar Rotterdam party. He was elected into the Rotterdam city council in March 2002. After the assassination of Fortuyn, May 6 2002, the Leefbaar...
is the name of a political party in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
.
New Zealand
In
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, as in Australia, it was the
Labour PartyThe New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially liberal, and Progressive, and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
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
ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
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 AndertonJames Patrick Anderton, usually known as Jim Anderton , is leader of the Progressive Party, a political party in the New Zealand Parliament. He has served in Parliament since 1984...
and his
NewLabour PartyNewLabour was the name chosen by Jim Anderton, an MP and former President of the New Zealand Labour Party, for his new left-of-centre party in 1989....
, which later formed part of the
Alliance PartyThe Alliance, in New Zealand politics, is a left-wing political party. The party is currently outside parliament, but has previously been a significant presence there. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the party's MPs...
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 PartyThe Alliance, in New Zealand politics, is a left-wing political party. The party is currently outside parliament, but has previously been a significant presence there. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the party's MPs...
alone. During the Labour Party's second term in office, National selected
Ruth RichardsonRuth Richardson served as New Zealand's Minister of Finance from 1990 to 1993, and is known for her strong pursuit of free-market economic reforms .-Early life:...
as Opposition finance spokesperson, and when National won the 1990 general election, Richardson became Minister of Finance, while
Jenny ShipleyDame Jennifer "Jenny" Mary Shipley, DNZM , was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first and to date only woman to serve as leader of the National Party.-Early life:She was born and christened Jennifer Mary Robson in the...
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
NationalThe New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties...
MP
Winston PetersWinston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...
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 FirstNew Zealand First is a political party in New Zealand. It had members in the New Zealand House of Representatives for over fifteen years, from the date that Winston Peters, its leader, won his Tauranga electorate seat in 1993...
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
MMPIn 1996 New Zealand adopted mixed member proportional as its electoral system for the House of Representatives after many years of first-past-the-post.The term of the Parliament is set at three years from its first sitting...
electoral system, a New Right "Association of Consumers and Taxpayers" party, known as
ACT New ZealandACT New Zealand is a political party in New Zealand that espouses free market classical liberalism in the New Zealand Parliament. According to party leader Rodney Hide, the party stands for 'individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natural environment and for smaller,...
was formed by ex-Labour New Right-aligned Cabinet Ministers like
Richard PrebbleRichard William Prebble CBE, born 7 February 1948, was for many years a member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996.-Early life:...
and others, and maintaining existing New Right policy initiatives such as the Employment Contracts Act, while also introducing US-style "
welfare reform-Welfare reform in the United States:-The Welfare System and reform in Great Britain:Social welfare is administered in three ways in Great Britain, the National Health Service, the Social Services program, and the Pensions Service program all play a part in the providing social welfare.-The three...
." 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 ClarkHelen Elizabeth Clark , a New Zealand politician and administrator, is the head of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position. Clark was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008 and led the Labour Party from 1993 until it lost...
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 EnglishSimon William "Bill" English is the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastructure of New Zealand.English entered parliament in 1990 as a National party MP representing the Wallace electorate...
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 ZealandACT New Zealand is a political party in New Zealand that espouses free market classical liberalism in the New Zealand Parliament. According to party leader Rodney Hide, the party stands for 'individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natural environment and for smaller,...
gaining the New Right middle-class voting basis in 2002. When
Don BrashDonald "Don" Thomas Brash , a former New Zealand politician, was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the National Party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006...
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 ZealandACT New Zealand is a political party in New Zealand that espouses free market classical liberalism in the New Zealand Parliament. According to party leader Rodney Hide, the party stands for 'individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natural environment and for smaller,...
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 HideRodney Hide is a New Zealand politician who became leader of the political party ACT New Zealand in 2004. Since 2005, he has represented the electorate of Epsom as its Member of Parliament...
can retain his Epsom electorate seat at the next general election. Furthermore, Don Brash resigned as National party leader, being replaced by
John KeyJohn Phillip Key is the 38th and current Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the New Zealand National Party.John Key entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2002 representing the north-west Auckland constituency of Helensville as a National MP, a seat that he has held since then...
, 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 deregulationLabour market flexibility refers to the speed with which labour markets adapt to fluctuations and changes in society, the economy or production.-Definition:In the past, the most common definition of labour market flexibility was the neo-liberal definition...
and the deunionisation that had accompanied it in the nineties. It is plausible that Clark and her Cabinet are influenced by
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and his British Labour Government, which pursues a similar balancing act between social and fiscal responsibility while in government. Also had a cap
Romania
In
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
, the nationalist organization "
Noua DreaptăNoua Dreaptă is an ultra-nationalist organization in Romania, founded in 2000.-Beliefs:The group's beliefs include militant nationalism and strong Orthodox religious convictions...
" (New Right) was founded in 2000. In 2006, Noua Dreaptă staged a peaceful anti-gay rally in Bucharest. The organization uses the paraphernalia of interwar
Iron GuardThe Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II...
and practices a
cult of personalityA cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments....
towards the slain Iron Guard leader
Corneliu Zelea CodreanuCorneliu Zelea Codreanu was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael , an ultra-nationalist and violently antisemitic organization...
. Noua Dreaptă is an active member of the far right
European National FrontEuropean National Front is a coordinating structure of European far right, Third Positionist, anti-communist and nationalist parties. Sometimes members of the ENF also use anti-capitalist rhetoric...
.
South Korea
In
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
, the "New Right" movement is a Korean attempt at
neoconservativeNeoconservatism is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States of America, and which supports using American economic and military power to bring liberalism, democracy, and human rights to other countries...
politics.
Some well known politicians from the "old right"
GNPThe Grand National Party is a conservative political party in South Korea. Its Korean name, Hannara, has a double meaning as "Great National" and "Korean National." The GNP currently holds a majority of seats in the 18th Assembly, lasting from 2008 to 2012.-History:The party was founded in 1997 as...
indicated commonality with the New Right groups, including
Park Geun-hyePark Geun-hye is a South Korean politician. She is a member of the National Assembly and was the head of the conservative Grand National Party. She is now in her fourth parliamentary term, having first been elected in 1998. Her father was Park Chung-hee, president of South Korea from 1963 to 1979...
(former leader of the GNP) who endorsed the New Right's 'Alternative Korean History Textbook' in a symposium.
Some New Right leaders have joined the GNP. Shin Ji-ho, a former leftist activist and now one of the best-known New Right activists, joined the GNP and became a member of the
National Assembly of South KoreaThe National Assembly of South Korea is a 299-member unicameral legislature. The latest general elections were held on April 9, 2008. Single-member constituencies comprise 245 of the National Assembly's seats, while the remaining 54 are allocated by proportional representation...
.
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
ConservatismConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
that the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan influenced. Thatcher's style of New Right ideology, known as
ThatcherismThatcherism describes the ideology, political style and policies of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
, was heavily influenced by the work of
Friedrich HayekFriedrich August von Hayek CH , was an Austrian and British economist and philosopher known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought. He is considered by some to be one of the most important economists and political philosophers...
(in particular the book
The Road to SerfdomThe Road to Serfdom is a book written by Friedrich von Hayek which transformed the landscape of political thought in the 20th century, shifting the terms of debate for millions of people across the political spectrum...
). 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 MajorSir John Major, KG, CH, ACIB , is a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Leader of the Conservative Party. He held these posts from 1990 to 1997....
and the mark of the New Right is evident in the New Labour government, first under
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, then
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
.
Influential figures:
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
- President of the USA
James Q. WilsonJames Q. Wilson is an American academic political scientist and an authority on public administration. He is a professor and senior fellow at the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College....
- advisor to Reagan. Ideas very unpopular among left-wing British sociologists.
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Charles MurrayThis article is about the political scientist. For other people with the same name, see Charles Murray .Charles Alan Murray is an American libertarian political scientist, author, and columnist working as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC...
- 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 RedwoodJohn Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. Formerly Secretary of State for Wales in John Major's Cabinet, he unsuccessfully challenged Major for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
- Conservative MP.
Chubb and Moe - New Right theorists who spoke about education.
Family -
Much like functionalists, New Right theorists see the family as the cornerstone of society. The
nuclear familyA nuclear family is a family group consisting of only a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters. This can be contrasted with an extended family. Nuclear families can be of any size, as long as the family can support itself and there are only children and two parents...
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.
Criticisms of the New Right's 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 U.S. 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 - ‘[crime]prevents the formation and maintenance of community’. With the absence of community, crime rates soar.
Murray - 1990, 2001.
According to Murray, increased numbers of young, healthy, low-income people 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 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 led 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 inviting more people to a life of crime.
United States
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the New Right refers to a
conservativeConservatism in the United States is a major American political philosophy. In contemporary American politics, it is often associated with the Republican Party...
political movement that coalesced through grassroots organizing in the years preceding the 1964 presidential campaign of
Barry GoldwaterBarry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. He was also a Major General in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was known as "Mr...
. The Goldwater campaign, though failing to unseat incumbent President
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963...
, 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 to promote strongly conservative policies. The New Right got a policy approach and electoral apparatus that brought
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
into the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
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 RightIn the United States, the Old Right was a faction of American conservatism that opposed both New Deal domestic programs and also the entry of the U.S. into World War II. Many members of this faction were associated with the Republicans of the interwar years led by Robert Taft, but some were Democrats...
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.
Ukraine
In Ukraine there is a metapolitical organization named "Ukrainian New Right - Mesogaia", whose leader is a philosophical-political writer,
Oleg GutsulyakOleg B. Gutsulyak, Ph.D. -Ukrainian New Right writer, philosopher, culturologist.The author of the geocultural concept of Mesogaia.-Biography: Was born on July 11, 1969 in Ivano-Frankivsk Oleg B. Gutsulyak, Ph.D. (11.07.1969) -Ukrainian New Right writer, philosopher, culturologist.The author of...
. The semi-official organs of the party is the monthlies (
"Mesogaia-Sarmatia"), (
"LNE-UA") which also publishes articles in Ukrainian and Russian languages. Ukrainian New Right are collaborate with the Eastern European Metapolitical Association New Right "
Thule-SarmatiaThule-Sarmatia is a cultural study group founded in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia 2004. They describe themselves as a "research group for Premordial culture" and have a pronounced metapolitical purpose....
"
http://www.mesogaia-sarmatia.narod.ru (Ukraine - Bulgaria - Russia - Azerbajdzhan - Tatarstan).
External links