The convulsions of 2016—Brexit and the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency—are broadly understood as a watershed moment in the emergence of a new form of right-wing politics. Variously referred to as the New Right, Post-liberalism, or Neoreactionary, the constellation of forces that congealed around these transatlantic shocks represent a formidable challenge both to liberal democracy and to mainstream conservative movements. What’s new about the “New Right,” and who are the leading figures and organizations reshaping the political landscape in democracies across the globe?
This course surveys the major currents that together compose the New Right, from Catholic Integralists, who regard religious principles as the bedrock of law and policy, to National Conservatives with their fixation on ethno-nationalist revival to the Neo-Monarchists agitating for an American Caesar. Situating these movements in the context of neoliberal economic crises, social transformations, and political dysfunction, we will ask: What sort of theories about human nature and the role of government animate New Right thinkers? In what ways do they challenge mainstream conservative orthodoxies regarding individualism, democracy, and the free market? What points of continuity bind them to twentieth-century fascist and reactionary movements? What vision for the future of both American and global politics do they advance, and what sort of institutional infrastructure have they built to enact their goals? Readings will include works by a broad range of New Right thinkers—including Rod Dreher, Patrick Deneen, Yoram Hazony, Douglas Murray, Sohrab Ahmari, Nick Land, and Curtis Yarvin—alongside policy documents and statements by several New Right institutions, including the Edmund Burke Foundation/National Conservatism, American Compass, American Moment, and the rebooted Heritage Foundation.
