Rafael Luis Bardají López (bornBadajoz, 1959) is a Spanish author, sociologist and former national security advisor to the Spanish government who researches the fields ofneoconservatism and international politics. He was the founder of theGrupo de Estudios Estratégicos (Strategic Studies Group) think-tank.[1]
Bardaji graduated with degrees in political science and sociology from theComplutense University of Madrid (UCM).[2] He became a researcher into Americanneoconservative politics under theGeorge W. Bush administration and the2003 Invasion of Iraq.[3] Along with other academics, military figures and politicians, he founded the centre-right Strategic Studies Group which aims to provide research on defense and security. The group maintains informal ties to the SpanishPeople's Party.[4][5] Bardaji also worked as a policy advisor to People's Party defense ministersEduardo Serra Rexach andFederico Trillo.[6] Bardaji has also written in support of Israel and is a member of the Friends of Israel Initiative in Spain.[7][8]
In 2018, Bardaji announced he had ended his longstanding affiliation to thePeople's Party and had joinedVox.[9] Italian journalist Steven Forti argued that Bardaji's role in Vox as being "the main channel that has put the Vox leaders in contact with the American neocon world."[10]
Bardaji has described himself as aZionist and a supporter of Israel.[11] He is critical ofIslam and has argued that Islamic teachings have been responsible for terrorism and that non-violent passages in Islam still encourage intolerance.[12] In 2015, he claimed that contrary to other opinions,Islamic state could not be defined as a typical terrorist outfit as it was a generating support via an apparatus of security and order in comparison to the government of Syria.[13][14]
Carmona Pascual, Pablo César (2012).Spanish Neocon: la revuelta neoconservadora en la derecha española (1a edición ed.). Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.ISBN978-84-96453-66-1.OCLC795334955.
_(cropped).jpg)