Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy

by Mark Sedgwick (editor)

Since the start of the twenty-first century, the political mainstream has been shifting to the right. The liberal orthodoxy that took hold in the West as a reaction to the Second World War is breaking down. In Europe, populist political parties have pulled the mainstream in their direction; in America, a series of challenges to the Republican mainstream culminated in the 2016 election of Donald Trump.In Key Thinkers of the Radical Right, sixteen expert scholars explain sixteen thinkers, providing an introduction to their life and work, a guide to their thought, and an explanation of their work's reception. The chapters focus on thinkers who are widely read across the political right in both Europe and America, such as Julius Evola, Alain de Benoist, and Richard B. Spencer. Featuring classic, modern, and emerging thinkers, this selection provides a good representation of the intellectual right and avoids making political or value judgments. In an increasingly polarized political environment, Key Thinkers of the Radical Right offers a comprehensive and unbiased introduction to the thinkers who form the foundation of the radical right.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, History, Far Right, Nonfiction

Paperback

About the author

Mark Sedgwick graduated with an MA from the Honour School of Modern History, University of Oxford in 1986. He gained his PhD in the Department of History at the University of Bergen in 1999. He has been a Professor in the Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark, since 2011.

Reviews

[Murtaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent short primer to the major thinkers of the radical right. If you have been lulled into thinking that these people are somehow intellectually lacking — a bunch of skinheads and hicks — you would be deeply mistaken. Going back at least a century and up til the present-day, the radical right has produced a steady stream of sophisticated thinkers and advocates. To recognize their intelligence does not entail and endorsement of their views, even a bit. But a few of these people have managed to make very perceptive critiques of the West as presently constructed in its liberal-hegemon phase. To be able to even see outside of this framework is a minor accomplishment, promoted as it is by all the major institutions of society.

The book is a set of very short essays giving introductions to the major figures of this movement. I was more interested in the contemporary thinkers, including Curtis Yarvin ("Mencius Moldbug"), Greg Johnson, Richard Spencer and even Jared Taylor. There are many better analyses of Carl Schmitt and Oswald Spencer out there but this book is valuable and giving an analysis of the present-day. Each of the introductions is only a few pages long, which means that the book is only useful as a way of getting a basic familiarity with the figures in question. Although they are outside of the mainstream "Cathedral" today, as the subtitle of this book indicates it would be a mistake for liberals to underestimate these people, especially now that the barriers to publishing and broadcasting have been lowered to almost nil by the internet.

[Ico Maly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a descriptive analytical encyclopedia approach to some of the more 'influential' thinkers on the far right / new right. Each chapters introduces one thinkers and his or her most important concepts and contributions. Nothing shockingly new, original or very in depth, but a very useful, thorough introduction to these thinkers. A good beginner's guide to get yourself acquainted with some of the influential far right intellectuals.

[Peter Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short summaries of important thinkers from a broad sweep of history. While it’s certainly an advantage of this book that it comes to these thinkers charitably and without judgment, it can at times make for uncomfortable reading, and sometimes even gets in the way of honest criticism. My concerns were only strengthened by rumours about Mark Sedgwick’s own acquaintances, which I won’t repeat here (they are rumours).

[Teddy Dodger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of trans-national examples (Russia, Germany, France, Sweden) and heterogeneous thought that emphasizes the difference in RR thought as opposed to uniformity.

Despite the title, avoids polemicising until the later chapters. I would dispute that Richard Spencer is as influential as the chapter on him suggests, but nontheless each essay is thought provoking.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a useful book for scholars but the chapters are a bit of a mixed bag. The overall themes that come out of the book, however, are very useful for thinking about what the radical right is as well as the tensions with in it. It starts with sort of classic far right thinkers like Schmitt and Spengler and goes all the way up to the present day (well, 2019) to weirdos like Mencius Moldbug and Richard Spencer.

A few of the major themes from these thinkers: They are all fundamentally illiberal, in that they do not believe that human beings are created equally and are deserving of the same rights and opportunities. They believe at a normative level in hierarchy, domination, and different forms of cultural/racial purity. They are mostly quite uncomfortable with modernity and the administrative state, which they believe homogenizes society and crushes individual spirits (they also believe it has been hijacked in most cases by liberals). They are almost exclusively anti-democratic, viewing democracy in a NIetzschean way as a sort of herd morality. They often have a romantic streak, believe that life is about struggle and heroism but that the modern world suffocates these things. They are mostly traditionalists and nationalists of some kind, although a few are futurist libertarian types associated with Silicon Valley radicals like Peter Thiel. Some of them are out and out biological racists, while others are more of the belief that different races or cultures are not meant to mix and that multiculturalism leads to national or racial degeneration. Either way, this mentality leads to some form of white nationalist, nativist, even eugenic politics. They are also cultural particularists who believe that human values and lifestyles should not be applied to other societies, even if some of them don't vehemently believe that the West is necessarily better than other cultures.

A few other themes: they are deeply concerned with decline, decadence, and even national or racial suicide; this is the Spenglerian tendency among them, although Spengler didn't endorse outright racist. THey have mixed views about CHristianity, although they tend toward the negative belief that Christianity is the root of liberalism's endorsement of universal human equality or a form of slave morality. They are also quite mixed on capitalism: some see it as a liberal, cosmopolitan system that erodes national boundaries and unique cultures, while others are more libertarian and want to unleash. They are, as you might expect, almost all men who are deeply concerned with masculinity in the modern world.

The final big theme for them is metapolitics, which is their main political strategy. This term arose in the postwar French far right, and it is their long-term strategy for unseating liberalism as the dominant mode of politics and thought in the world. They argue that liberalism is so dominant now that direct participation in politics as the far right or white nationalist parties is premature; they are just doomed to lose and might actually feed liberalism's energy (there are of course far right parties across the West that in some cases draw on aspects of the radical right's). SO instead, they argue for building up radical right ideas in the culture, media, internet, etc so that over time liberalism's legitimacy becomes eroded and you can actually build a political movement. This is a Gramscian approach to politics that has become ever more influential on the right. But it isn't clear how much it is working, and it might just be an excuse for these weirdos to mostly stay within their existing circles and avoid the public spotlight (many of them are terminally online nerds).

This book was helpful for showing just how much the RR differs from mainstream conservatism, even as they have become more blurred in the last decade. However, I wouldn't recommend it to non-specialists. Some of the chapters aren't very good and/or just weren't translated well. There's a lot of thematic overlap between chapters, as most of these dudes aren't all that different. For more holistic and thesis driven studies of the Radical Right, see George Hawley's "Making Sense of the Alt-Right" or Matt Rose's "A World After Liberalism.

[Yuki Fujinari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this concurrently with Robert O. Paxtons "The Anatomy of Fascism", though the shorter and introductory nature of this book led to me finishing this one much quicker than the other.

Tldr; great introduction to both classic and modern thinkers of the radical right. Special attention was given to European authors or those with influence in Europe, such as Spengler, Jünger, Schmitt, Evola and also modern ones like de Benoist, Faye and Dugin.

Although nothing will replace reading someone or something directly, this book is particularly useful for those on the left that need a refresher on the philosophical foundations of our enemies.

Our enemy is no longer the old right...you know, actual Neo-Nazis or Free-Market conservatives, but a new right that is adept at understanding the decline of liberal institutions and capturing the apocalyptic mood of postmodern politics.

Any true left-winger will understand that we must build a robust movement more than ever. We must leave behind the social democrats and greens who have long sold us out to the markets. Of course, the fringes of the left, namely communists, socialists and anarchists know all this, but thought and action are two different realms. Now is the time of action.

The right has adapted to the 21st century, they have understood that things cannot continue the way they are and they are preparing for power. They are also very close

If we don't react now, darkness lies ahead.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book undoubtedly has its flaws. However, I do not count them against this book. Each chapter is designed as a brief introduction to the origins, political philosophy and aftermath of each “key radical right thinker”. Not only is this book interesting, especially due to its highlighting of the various intra-far-right debates and splinters, it is also incredibly valuable for the contemporary political climate that we live in where ideas such as these discussed in this book are surfacing from the wave of right wing populism across the West. What people really ought to take away is that these people aren’t your typical “conservatives gone polarized” or anything. These thinkers aren’t inherently white (well they are), uber capitalist, crazy Christian men. Paganism, atheism, satanism, homosexuality, and various other things not typically attributed to the right are incredibly common among these men discussed in this book. There is a new enemy of liberal democracy and it is one that most liberals are not familiar with at all. It would do everybody well to read this book.

[Ali Nazifpour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful book for learning about the far-right, especially now that they're a major problem for the world of politics at the moment. This book does a great job of contextualizing the far-right historically while at the same time portraying the contemporary picture, creating both a holistic view that captures the common thread between these thinkers and also including individual subtleties, complexities, and differences. It portrays the far-right on its own terms without becoming a mouthpiece, providing a very necessary and comprehensive understanding.

[Ibrahim Mahmoud · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book took me a while to finish but it was a great pleasure. Offering such a useful information about the radical right thinkers. Only opposition was adding jack donavan as a key thinker. Overall the book is a great start to dig deep in reading about radical right ideas

[Rinstinkt · Rating 2 out of 5]

12 - Mencius Moldbug and Neoreaction.

15 - Jack Donovan and Male Tribalism.

[Riccardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very valuable resource, but uneven and sometimes repetitive.