Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition

Edmund Fawcett

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

Conservatism

The Fight for a Tradition

Edmund Fawcett

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691207773

Overview
Contents

About this book

A fresh and sharp-eyed history of political conservatism from its nineteenth-century origins to today’s hard Right

For two hundred years, conservatism has defied its reputation as a backward-looking creed by confronting and adapting to liberal modernity. By doing so, the Right has won long periods of power and effectively become the dominant tradition in politics. Yet, despite their success, conservatives have continued to fight with each other about how far to compromise with liberalism and democracy—or which values to defend and how. In Conservatism, Edmund Fawcett provides a gripping account of this conflicted history, clarifies key ideas, and illuminates quarrels within the Right today.

Focusing on the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, Fawcett’s vivid narrative covers thinkers and politicians. They include the forerunners James Madison, Edmund Burke, and Joseph de Maistre; early friends and foes of capitalism; defenders of religion; and builders of modern parties, such as William McKinley and Lord Salisbury. The book chronicles the cultural critics and radical disruptors of the 1920s and 1930s, recounts how advocates of laissez-faire economics broke the post 1945 consensus, and describes how Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and their European counterparts are pushing conservatism toward a nation-first, hard Right.

An absorbing, original history of the Right, Conservatism portrays a tradition as much at war with itself as with its opponents.

Author / Editor information

Edmund Fawcett worked at The Economist for more than three decades, serving as its chief correspondent in Washington, Paris, Berlin, and Brussels, as well as its European and literary editor. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the New Statesman, and the Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of Liberalism: The Life of an Idea (Princeton).

Reviews

“An impressive and stylish synthesis.”—Duncan Kelly, University of Cambridge

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
PART I Conservatism’s Forerunners
One. Critics of Revolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
PART II What Conservatism Is
Two. Character, Outlook, and Labelling of Conservatism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
PART III Conservatism’s First Phase (1830–80): Resisting Liberalism
The Year 1830 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Three. Parties and Politicians: A Right without Authority Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Four. Ideas and Thinkers: Turning Reason against Liberalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
PART IV Conservatism’s Second Phase (1880–1945): Adaptation and Compromise
The Year 1880 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Five. Parties and Politicians: Authority Recovered and Squandered Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Six. Ideas and Thinkers: Distrust of Democracy and of Public Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
PART V Conservatism’s Third Phase (1945–80): Political Command and Intellectual Recovery
The Year 1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Seven. Parties and Politicians: Recovering Nerve and Rewinning Power Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Eight. Ideas and Thinkers: Answering Liberal Orthodoxies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
PART VI Conservatism’s Fourth Phase (1980 to the Present: Hyper-liberalism and the Hard Right
The Year 1980 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327
Nine. Parties and Politicians: Letting in the Hard Right Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
Ten. Ideas and Thinkers: Yes or No to a Hyper-liberal Status Quo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	362
Coda: Choices for the Right Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415
Appendix A: Conservative Keywords Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419
Appendix B: Philosophical Sources of Conservative Thought Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	424
Appendix C: Conservative Lives: A Gazetteer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	428
Works Consulted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	495
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	507