CONSERVATISM - New Right

Question 1

N.R

What was it?

Answer 1

New Right composed of two different strands: neoliberal and neo-conservative ideas.

Question 2

N.L

Economic and social policies summarised

Answer 2

Criticised Keynesianism and argued for the re-introduction of free-market economics similar to that proposed by Adam Smith. (Libertarian approach)

Opposed the extensive state welfare on moral grounds arguing that state welfare was criticised for having created a ‘culture of dependency’ which saps initiative and enterprise.

Egoistical individualism

Question 3

N.C

Social policies summarised

Answer 3

Reaction against reforms, ideas, and permissive attitudes of the 1960s.

This threatened society with social fragmentation which required strong political leadership to stop it.

Anti-permissive.

Strong law + order and tougher prison sentences.

Strong national identity which would unite people - extend global reach and promote strong defence policies.

Question 4

IMPERFECTION

The positive neoliberals

Answer 4

Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand, have recognised human nature’s desire for individual freedom, driven by rational self-interest, similar to the classical liberal view.

So, their view of human nature, particularly intellectual imperfection, is not as pessimistic as other conservatives.

Question 5

IMPERFECTION

The negative neoconservatives

Answer 5

But, neoconservatives, like Irving Kristol and Roger Scruton agreed much more with the pessimistic view of Hobbes, and the need for authority which led neoconservatives to propose a tougher approach to law and order, involving stronger powers for police and longer sentences for offenders.

They also emphasised national identity and the need to protect the nation against outside influences and threats.

Question 6

PRAGMATISM

What do neoliberals and neoconservatives think of pragmatism?

Answer 6

Neoliberal conservatives support the principles of liberty and individualism, looking back to classical liberals for their theory.

Neoliberal conservative economist Milton Friedman based his work on the free-market principles and theories on Adam Smith.

Thatcher and Reagan followed these principles of free-market economics to introduce Thatcherism and Reaganomics - they attacked the enabling state theories and reduced state welfare provision.

Question 7

ORGANICISM

What do neoliberals think of organicism?

*Maggie T

Answer 7

The neoliberal New Right disagreed strongly with the idea of an organic society, and famously Margaret Thatcher even declared that ‘there is no such thing as society’ and took an atomistic view similar to classical liberals.

Question 8

ORGANICISM

What do neoconservatives think of organicism?

*Roger Scruton

Answer 8

The neoconservative new right agreed more with traditional conservatives like Burke that society is not just made up of individuals, but that each national society has a culture of its own that needs to be protected and conserved.

In the UK, Roger Scruton was wary of immigration affecting national culture, and in the US, Samuel P. Huntington described the threat posed by importing ideas of different cultures in his book ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ (1996).

Question 9

PATERNALISM

What is the difference between hard and soft paternalism?

Answer 9

‘Soft’ paternalism is characterized by broad consent on the part of those subject to paternalism.

‘Hard’ paternalism operates regardless of consent, and thus overlaps with authoritarianism e.g., Hitler and the Third Reich.

Question 10

PATERNALISM

What do neoliberals think of paternalism?

Answer 10

The neoliberal side of the New Right is opposed to paternalism as it interferes with freedom and prevents individuals becoming truly self-reliant. Economic freedom in the free market etc.

Question 11

PATERNALISM

What do neoconservatives think of paternalism?

Answer 11

Neoconservatives also have concerns that the welfare state had become what Margaret Thatcher called the ‘Nanny state’

Neoconservatives still saw the need for some ‘hard paternalism’, that was enforced more like the ‘tough love’ of a stricter parent, with punishment where needed.

Question 12

LIBERTARIANISM

Definition

What key thinkers are libertarians?

Answer 12

Libertarianism is ‘a range of theories that give strict priority to liberty (understood in negative terms) over other values, such as authority, tradition and equality.’

Rand and Nozick.

Question 13

LIBERTARIANISM

Rand

Answer 13

Objectivism’ was Ayn Rand’s most important contribution to political thought.

She claimed that if offered a set of principles covering all aspects of human life – it advocates the virtues of selfishness (rational self-interest).

Rand called for a ‘full pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire’ state with a free market economy, and rejected government welfare and wealth redistribution programmes.

Question 14

LIBERTARIANISM

Nozick

Answer 14

Robert Nozick believes that taxation to fund state welfare programmes are immoral because they amount to a type of forced labour imposed on the individual by the state. (Tale of the slave).

Based on the ideas of Locke, self-ownership is the idea that individuals own themselves, as well as the rewards or products created by their abilities and labour.

Nozick maintained that ‘self-ownership’ gives the individual the right to determine what can be done with their ‘possession’, opposes taxation to fund welfare programmes and supports the minimal state’

Question 15

N.L

Atomistic Individualism

Answer 15

Nozick and Ayn Rand both go even further than Locke in arguing that an individual’s obligations are to him-or-herself rather than to the state or society.

Most neoliberals, therefore, argue for a minimal government, similar to classical liberalism. To preserve individual freedom in the modern world, Margaret Thatcher said that the government should ‘roll back the state’ – removing big government to help the individual flourish.

Question 16

N.L

Why does Rand not like the organic society concept?

Answer 16

The organic society concept of other aspects of conservatism is seen by Rand as blunting the development of the individual, as the dominant beliefs of society at the time tend to restrict an individual’s thinking.

Rand argued that only with atomistic individualism can negative freedom allow individuals to achieve self-realisation.

Question 17

N.L

Rand’s philosophical awakening

QU: ‘What ___ government __ ___ me? What ___ I do ___ _______?’

Answer 17

‘what will government do for me?’

‘what can I do for myself?’

Question 18

N.L

Criticisms of state welfare

Culture of dependency

Answer 18

Neoliberals also object to state provision of welfare on moral grounds. The welfare state is criticized for having created a ‘culture of dependency’: it saps initiative and enterprise and robs people of dignity and respect.

These are the ideas of Charles Murray. He believes that the underclass are overly reliant on the welfare state which creates a culture of dependency.

Question 19

N.L

Criticisms of state welfare

Commitment to individual rights

Answer 19

A further neoliberal argument against welfare is based on a commitment to individual rights.

Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand argued this most forcefully in condemning all policies of welfare and redistribution as a violation of property rights - based on the concept of atomistic individualism.

Question 20

N.L

Economy

Hayek and Friedman

Answer 20

Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, for example, challenged the very idea of a ‘managed’ or ‘planned’ economy.

They argued that the task of allocating resources in a complex, industrialized economy was simply too difficult for any set of state bureaucrats to achieve successfully.

Nationalised industries had a monopoly protected from free-market competition, had become inefficient and had distorted the whole market.

The virtue of the free market, on the other hand, is that it acts as the central nervous system of the economy.

It reconciles the supply of goods and services with the demand for them, as suppliers react to the market conditions of current decisions by buyers and sellers, rather than ideas of bureaucrats.

Question 21

N.L

What kind of economic government intervention do they approve of?

Answer 21

Neoliberalism, therefore, sees the role of government in the economy being limited to controlling inflation by controlling the supply of money.

This led to the privatisation programme and low-income taxes of Thatcherism.

Question 22

N.C

Strong authority

Origins

Answer 22

The rise of neoconservatism in the 1970s was a reaction against the ‘liberalising’ reforms, ideas, and permissive attitudes of the 1960/70s.

For neoconservatives, these unwelcome changes threatened society with social fragmentation, which could only be prevented by strong political leadership.

The aims were: 1) to maintain the organic society against social fragmentation, and 2) to uphold public morality and law and order.

Question 23

N.C

Anti-permissiveness

*Irving Kristol

Answer 23

Neoconservatism was anti-permissive, meaning they doubted that people in the society that had emerged from the 1960s were making responsible moral choices.

The use of the term ‘permissiveness’ suggests that during the sixties there were no authoritative moral values, and Thatcherism called for a return to ‘Victorian values.

The social and sexual revolution of the 1960s had led to an increasingly secular society with a reduction of the influence of church and religion in the West.

Irving Kristol (who has been described as the ‘godfather of neoconservatism’) has argued that this has depleted the moral and spiritual stock that binds society.

Neoconservatives, like traditional conservatives such as Burke, value religion, tradition, authority and duty, as vital facets of the organic society.

Question 24

N.C

Nationalism/National identity

Answer 24

Society must also be protected against external threats.

Neoconservatives believe in national identity as a force to unite people, and anything that waters down this identity threatens social cohesion.

They saw the organic society of the nation as under threat from values not traditional to it being ‘imported’ as a result of the growth of multiculturalism.

They have responded by demanding tougher immigration controls.

Priti Patel is an example of this in our cabinet today!

Cricket test – Norman Tebbitt, Maggie Thatcher’s employment secretary argued that if you support a non-English team, you should go back to your own country.