Authoritarian conservatism is a political ideology that seeks to upholdorder,tradition andhierarchy, often with forcible suppression of radical and revolutionary enemies such ascommunists,Nazis, andanarchists.[1] Authoritarian conservative movements and regimes have includedChiangism in China,[2]Metaxism in Greece,[3]Putinism in Russia, andFrancoism in Spain.[4]
Although the concept ofauthority has been identified as a core tenet ofconservatism in general,[5][6] authoritarian conservatism is only one ofmany different forms of conservatism. It is contrasted withlibertarian conservatism, which is the most common form ofconservatism in the United States.[7]
The two philosophical forefathers of conservatism,Edmund Burke andJoseph de Maistre, inspired two separate forms of conservatism. Whereas the first was rooted in a more libertarianWhig tradition, the latter wasultramontane,ultra-royalist, and ultimatelyauthoritarian.[8]
G. W. F. Hegel has also been identified as one of the most important conservative philosophers.[9][10] Especially his workElements of the Philosophy of Right (1821) has exerted a powerful influence over conservative ideology.[11] Hegel inspiredright-wing authoritarians such asRudolf Kjellén in Sweden[12] andGiovanni Gentile in Italy.[13]Classical liberals have been critical of Hegel:Karl Popper identified him as the chief ideologue of the authoritarianPrussian state and considered him one of the main ideological enemies of anopen society,[14] andIsaiah Berlin accused him as being one of the architects of modern authoritarianism.[15]
German political theoristCarl Schmitt advocated authoritarian conservatism.[16][17] Referred to as "an acute observer and analyst of the weaknesses of liberalconstitutionalism" by theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Schmitt was a critic ofparliamentary democracy,liberalism, andcosmopolitanism.[18] He developed apolitical theology around concepts such assovereignty, claiming that "sovereign is he who decides on the exception" and arguing for a dictatorial presidential power who could step outside therule of law under astate of exception.[19]
Italian esoteric traditionalistJulius Evola is another influential authoritarian conservative philosopher.[20]
Authoritarian conservative movements were prominent in the same era asfascism, with which it sometimes clashed.[21] Although both ideologies shared core values such asnationalism and had common enemies such ascommunism andmaterialism, there was nonetheless a contrast between the traditionalist nature of authoritarian conservatism and the revolutionary,palingenetic and populist nature of fascism—thus it was common for authoritarian conservative regimes to suppress rising fascist andNazi movements.[22][23] The hostility between the two ideologies is highlighted by the struggle for power in Austria, which was marked by the assassination of ultra-Catholic statesmanEngelbert Dollfuss byAustrian Nazis. Likewise,Croatian fascists assassinated KingAlexander I of Yugoslavia.[24]
Edmund Fawcett explains the difference between fascism and authoritarian conservatism as follows:
Fascism, to schematize, is a form oftotalitarianism. It imposes control on every aspect of the state, society, economy, and cultural life. It works througha single party with an all-embracing ideology commonly under a charismatic leader claiming to speak for the people. Its enemies arepluralism anddiversity. Fascism stifles opposition by violence and fear and stabilizes itself by mobilizing popular engagement. Authoritarianism, by contrast, allows independent economic and social bodies, forms of limited representation, and a degree offreedom of religion. Its enemy is democratic participation. It also stifles opposition by violence and fear but stabilizes itself by relying on passive acquiescence in a trade-off of social quiet for loss of political role. The fascist is a nonconservative who takesanti-liberalism to extremes. The right-wing authoritarian is a conservative who takes fear of democracy to extremes.[25]
The authoritarian conservative right is distinguished from fascism in that such conservatives tended to use traditional religion as the basis for their philosophical views, while fascists based their views onvitalism,irrationalism, or secular neo-idealism.[26] Fascists often drew upon religious imagery, but used it as a symbol for the nation and replaced spirituality withultranationalism andstatolatry. Even in the most religious of the fascist movements, the RomanianIron Guard, "Christ was stripped of genuine otherworldly mystery and was reduced to a metaphor for national redemption."[27]
A term used by some scholars ispara-fascism, which refers to authoritarian conservative movements and regimes that adopt some characteristics associated with fascism such aspersonality cults,paramilitary organizations,symbols and rhetoric without committing to fascist tenets such aspalingenetic ultranationalism,modernism, and populism.[28][29]
TheRally of the Togolese People (RTP) was the ruling political party inTogo from 1969 to 2012. It was founded by PresidentGnassingbé Eyadéma and headed by his son, PresidentFaure Gnassingbé, after the former died in 2005. Faure Gnassingbé replaced the RPT with a new ruling party, the national-conservativeUnion for the Republic, in April 2012, dissolving the RPT.[30][31]
TheSocial Republican Party was a political party inCambodia, founded by the then-head of stateLon Nol on 10 June 1972. Its platform was populist, nationalist, and anti-communist, Lon Nol being determined to opposeNorth Vietnamese andChinese influence in the region in the context of theSecond Indochina War. The party's primary function, however, was to support and legitimise Lon Nol's leadership of the country; he was later to develop a rather ramshacklechauvinist and semi-mystical ideology called "Neo-Khmerism" to back his political agenda.[32]
Han Fei'sLegalism in the 3rd century B.C. advocated authoritarian conservatism that elevated the position of ruler.[33] Legalism argued that administrative discipline, notConfucian virtue, was crucial for the governance of the state.[34]
ModernChinese conservatism was often accompanied by authoritarianism; the Chinese nationalist partyKuomintang (KMT) originally started out as asocial democratic party that advocated westernization in theSun Yat-sen period, butChiang Kai-shek, the leader of the KMT who succeeded Sun, ruled conservative and anti-communistright-wing dictatorship afterShanghai massacre in 1927;Neoauthoritarianism is a conservative political thought that advocates for a powerful centralized state to promotemarket reforms within theChinese Communist Party (CCP), a concept that has been described asright-wing andclassically conservative, despite including some aspects ofMarxist-Leninist andMaoist theories.[35][36]
TheIranian Principlists are one of two main political camps inside post-revolutionary Iran, the other beingReformists. The termhardliners that some Western sources use in the Iranian political context usually refers to the faction.[37] Their ideology isclerical,theocratic, andIslamist.[38]
Park Chung Hee was a South Korean politician and army general who seized power in theMay 16 coup of 1961 and then was elected as the thirdPresident of South Korea in 1963. He introduced the highly authoritarianYushin Constitution, ushering in theFourth Republic of Korea. Ruling as adictator, he constantly repressed political opposition and dissent and wholly controlled the military. He ruled the country untilhis assassination in 1979.[39]
TheRexist Party was a far-rightCatholic,corporatist, androyalist political party active inBelgium from 1935 until 1945.[40] In its early period—until around 1937—it tried to win power by democratic means and did not want totally to abolish democratic institutions. During the German occupation of Belgium, it became a fascist movement.[41]
Zveno was aBulgarian political organization founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals, andBulgarian Army officers. It advocated forrationalization of Bulgaria's economic and political institutions under adictatorship that would be independent from both theSoviet Union and theAxis powers. They strongly opposed the Bulgarianparty system, which they saw as dysfunctional, and the terror of theInternal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. KingBoris III, an opponent ofZveno, orchestrated a coup through amonarchist Zveno member, GeneralPencho Zlatev, who became Prime Minister in January 1935. In April 1935, he was replaced by another monarchist,Andrei Toshev.
In theFinnish Civil War, rightistWhite Finland defeated the leftistRed Finland. The clashes occurred in the context of the turmoil caused byWorld War I in Europe. The paramilitaryWhite Guards were led byCarl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and were assisted by theGerman Imperial Army at the request of the Finnish civil government.
TheLapua Movement was a radicalFinnish nationalist, pro-German, andanti-communist political movement.[42][43] Led byVihtori Kosola, it turned towardsfar-right politics after its founding and was banned aftera failedcoup d'etat attempt in 1932.[44] ThePeasant March was a demonstration in Helsinki attended by more than 12,000 supporters from all over the country to put pressure on the Finnish government to suppress communism in the country.
TheConservative Revolution was an influential ideological movement during theWeimar Republic. Although usually characterized with terms such as radical, revolutionary, ultra, and romantic, the movement also had elements of authoritarianism.[45] For example,Arthur Moeller van den Bruck published the influential bookDas Dritte Reich (1923) in which he advocated a "Third Reich" that would unite all German classes under an authoritarian rule.[46]
Within the Weimar Republic, theGerman National People's Party (DNVP),Kurt von Schleicher andFranz von Papen have been described as authoritarian conservatives. The sympathizers of the authoritarian conservatism, such as Schleicher, had been promoted to PresidentPaul von Hindenburg's entourage since 1925 and represented an important pressure group.[47] Authoritarian conservatives believed that the party politics were deficient. Instead, they wanted to replace it with a broad "movement" or front to govern the country without the parliamentary involvement. Schleicher, although a major proponent of authoritarian conservatism, considered a dictatorship without a popular backing problematic, fearing a civil war involving both theCommunists andNazis and a possiblePolish intervention. He and other authoritarian conservatives did not believe anymore that the masses would go along with the wise authoritarian order. They did not support the active popular participation and thetotalitarian integration, but still accepted the need for society rallying around the leaders based on shared political convications. Therefore, Schleicher turned to Nazis, but he first made an offer to form a coalition government to various groups, includingStrasserists, before approachingAdolf Hitler himself.[48] The authoritarian conservatives sought to use Nazis and later bring them in line with more conservative goals of the DNVP. However, Hitler managed to capitalize on a personal rivalry between Schleicher and Papen, who both served as the chancellors, with President Hindenburg ultimately appointing Hitler as chancellor after Papen faced crisis from the Reichstag in January 1933, with Papen being given a "watching brief" as Vice Chancellor.[49] Schleicher was ultimately killed in 1934 during theNight of the Long Knives, while Papen barely escaped death and was removed from his post.
The4th of August Regime was an authoritarian, arch-conservative, and royalist regime under the leadership of GeneralIoannis Metaxas, who ruled over theKingdom of Greece from 1936 to 1941. The regime took inspiration in its symbolism and rhetoric fromFascist Italy but retained close links to Britain and theFrench Third Republic, rather than theAxis powers.[50] Metaxas' ideology is known asMetaxism.
TheNational Renaissance Front was aRomanian political party created byKingCarol II in 1938 as thesingle monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the1923 Constitution, and the passing of the1938 Constitution of Romania. Largely reflecting Carol's own political choices, the FRN was the last of several attempts to counter the popularity of the fascist and antisemiticIron Guard.[51] As Carol witnessed the failure of European countries to defend themselves fromNazi German advances, consecrated by theAnschluss and theMunich Agreement, he ordered the Iron Guard, whom he perceived as afifth column for Nazi Germany, to be decapitated: during the following days,Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and the majority of top-ranking Guardists were assassinated.[52][53]
The authoritarianUkrainian State headed by Cossack aristocratPavlo Skoropadskyi represented the conservative movement. The 1918Hetman government, which appealed to the tradition of the 17th–18th centuryCossack Hetman state, represented the conservative strand in Ukraine's struggle for independence. It had the support of the proprietary classes and conservative and moderate political groups.
António de Oliveira Salazar and hisEstado Novo have been described as authoritarian conservative.[54] In 1933, Salazar denounced fascism as "pagancaesarism" which advocates a "new state which knows no juridicial or moral limits". On 29 July 1934, Salazar disolved the Portugese fascistNational Syndicalists movement and the government's note rejected its "exaltation of youth, the cult of force through so-called direct action, the principle of the superiority of state political power in social life, the propensity for organizing masses behind a single leader".[55] Although theSpanish Civil War radicalized the political situation in the Iberian peninsular and led Salazar to create a youth movement and a paramilitary force which used the Fascist salute, its regime never adopted fascist and instead remained authoritarianCatholic corporatist similarly to the Austria ofEngelbert Dollfuss.[56]
During themilitary dictatorship of Chile, the country was ruled by amilitary junta headed by GeneralAugusto Pinochet. As an ideology,Pinochetism wasanti-communist,militaristic,nationalistic, andlaissez-faire capitalistic.[57][58] Under Pinochet,Chile's economy was placed under the control of a group of Chilean economists known collectively as theChicago Boys, whoseliberalising policies have been described by some asneoliberal.[59]
Mainstream conservatism in the United States was always strongly influenced by libertarian ideals. Indeed, historianLeo P. Ribuffo notes, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world callsliberalism orneoliberalism".[60] The topic of authoritarianism is therefore controversial within the American conservative movement.John Dean, a critic of PresidentsGeorge W. Bush andDonald Trump, writes inConservatives without Conscience (2006):
Social conservatism andneoconservatism have revived authoritarian conservatism, and not for the better of conservatism or American democracy. True conservatism is cautious and prudent. Authoritarianism is rash and radical. American democracy has benefited from true conservatism, but authoritarianism offers potentially serious trouble for any democracy.[61]
Thesecond presidency of Donald Trump has, however, been noted for practices with which some analysts associate with characteristics of authoritarian conservatism, with the administration frequently relying on executive orders, at times bypassing the traditional processes of legislating new laws in thecongressional approval process.[62] This has been argued as in alignment with the principles of theunitary executive theory stating the constitution supports a strongerexecutive branch.[63]
While supporters argue that this is a useful utilization of executive power to reduce unnecessary oversight from the legislative branch voting against laws, some critics have characterized this approach as reflecting a more centralized orautocratic governance style than past administrations, with it emphasizing an expansion of centralized executive authority to the point of being seen by local courts asunconstitutional.[64][65][66]
Theright-wing authoritarian personality (RWA) is apersonality type that describes somebody who is highly submissive to their authority figures, acts aggressively in the name of said authorities, and is conformist in thought and behaviour.[67] According to psychologistBob Altemeyer, individuals who are politically conservative often rank high in RWA.[68] This finding was echoed byTheodor W. Adorno inThe Authoritarian Personality (1950) based on theF-scale personality test. A study done on Israeli and Palestinian students in Israel found that RWA scores of right-wing party supporters were significantly higher than those of left-wing party supporters.[69]
