Conservatism : : The Fight for a Tradition / / Edmund Fawcett.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
• VerfasserIn: Fawcett, Edmund,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (544 p.)

A fresh and sharp-eyed history of political conservatism from its nineteenth-century origins to today's hard RightFor 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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART I Conservatism's Forerunners -- One. Critics of Revolution -- PART II What Conservatism Is -- Two. Character, Outlook, and Labelling of Conservatism -- PART III Conservatism's First Phase (1830-80): Resisting Liberalism -- The Year 1830 -- Three. Parties and Politicians: A Right without Authority -- Four. Ideas and Thinkers: Turning Reason against Liberalism -- PART IV Conservatism's Second Phase (1880-1945): Adaptation and Compromise -- The Year 1880 -- Five. Parties and Politicians: Authority Recovered and Squandered -- Six. Ideas and Thinkers: Distrust of Democracy and of Public Reason -- PART V Conservatism's Third Phase (1945-80): Political Command and Intellectual Recovery -- The Year 1945 -- Seven. Parties and Politicians: Recovering Nerve and Rewinning Power -- Eight. Ideas and Thinkers: Answering Liberal Orthodoxies -- PART VI Conservatism's Fourth Phase (1980 to the Present: Hyper-liberalism and the Hard Right -- The Year 1980 -- Nine. Parties and Politicians: Letting in the Hard Right -- Ten. Ideas and Thinkers: Yes or No to a Hyper-liberal Status Quo -- Coda: Choices for the Right -- Appendix A: Conservative Keywords -- Appendix B: Philosophical Sources of Conservative Thought -- Appendix C: Conservative Lives: A Gazetteer -- Works Consulted -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects