Nouvelle Droite
Encyclopedia
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political
thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist
and GRECE
(Research and Study Group on European Civilization).
. Some authors have traced it to Le Figaro
editor and GRECE member Louis Pauwels
, who wrote in the France Soir
of March 29, 1979: "My positions are those of what we can call the 'new right', and have nothing to do with the bourgeois, conservative
, and reactionary
right."
Louis Pauwels
, former director of the fantastic realist
magazine Planète
, entered in September 1977 the cultural services of Le Figaro, and became in October 1978 the director of the newly created weekly Le Figaro Magazine. The latter would become one of the main means of dissemination of the ideas of the Nouvelle Droite, including GRECE member Patrice de Plunkett
as deputy chief editor, as well as fellow GRECE members Alain de Benoist
, Jean-Claude Valla, Yves Christen, Christian Durante and Michel Marmin. Although other currents were represented in Le Figaro Magazine, the weekly remained one of the main mouthpieces of the Nouvelle Droite until 1981 and the election
of François Mitterrand
.
, noting that it is some sort of ideological synthesis of ideas of the Weimar Revolutionary Right (such as Carl Schmitt
, Oswald Spengler
and Ernst Jünger
) and the New Left
.
Paul Piccone
, editor and founder of the New Left journal Telos
wrote in 1993: "What makes the French New Right particularly interesting is that is does not propose a bizarre reversal of positions, but the end of the traditional contraposition of Left and Right in favour of a new political paradigm."
De Benoist has claimed that:
Critics identify the Nouvelle Droite as a new or sanitized form of neo-fascism
, or an ideology of the extreme right that significantly draws from fascism
(Laqueur, 1996; Lee, 1997).
and far-right parties in Europe such as the National Front in France, the Freedom Party
in Austria
and Vlaams Belang
in Flanders
(Belgium
). This, despite the fact that Alain de Benoist and certain other ideologues of the Nouvelle Droite, since the late 80s, had issued statements against some populist far-right movements.
Although mostly known in France, according to Minkenberg, the Nouvelle Droite borders to other European "New Right" movements, such as Neue Rechte
in Germany
, New Right
in the United Kingdom
, Nieuw Rechts
in the Netherlands
and Flanders, Forza Nuova in Italy
, Imperium Europa
in Malta
, and the New Right of Paul Weyrich
and the Free Congress Foundation
in the United States
.
This claim is disputed by most other scholars, who argue that the European New Right has some superficial similarities to certain sectors of the New Right in the United States, but not the entire New Right coalition. The European New Right is similar to the Cultural Conservatism
movement led by Paul Weyrich
and the Free Congress Foundation
, and to the related traditionalism of paleoconservatives
such as Pat Buchanan
and the Chronicles (magazine)
of the Rockford Institute
(Diamond, Himmelstein, Berlet and Lyons). However these subgroups of the New Right coalition in the United States are closely tied to Christianity, which the Nouvelle Droite rejects, describing itself as a pagan movement. Both Jonathan Marcus, Martin Lee and Alain de Benoist himself have highlighted these important differences with the US New Right coalition
As Martin Lee explains,
. Some proponents go as far as describing the Nouvelle Droite as an essentially pagan movement. The philosophical background uniting Neopaganism and the Nouvelle Droite is the occultist or esoteric literature of "Integral Traditionalism" of René Guénon
, Julius Evola
and others. A Belgian proponent of "Integral Traditionalist" Asatru is Belgian high priest Koenraad Logghe
.
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
and GRECE
Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne
The Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne , also known by its French acronym GRECE is an ethnonationalist think-tank, founded in 1968 by the journalist and writer Alain de Benoist.GRECE distinguishes itself from other traditionalist conservative organizations in...
(Research and Study Group on European Civilization).
Etymology and history
The term Nouvelle Droite was first mentioned in the French media in 1979, in a media campaign against GRECE and the Club de l'HorlogeClub de l'Horloge
The Club de l'Horloge is a French far-right association founded in 1974. Close to the Nouvelle Droite movement, the club centers itself around the values of "liberalism, nationalism and democracy." Its president is Henry de Lesquen.-History:The Club de l'Horloge was founded by far-right members...
. Some authors have traced it to Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
editor and GRECE member Louis Pauwels
Louis Pauwels
Louis Pauwels was a French journalist and writer.- Biography :Louis Pauwels was a teacher at Athis-Mons from 1939 to 1945 , Louis Pauwels wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 until the...
, who wrote in the France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
of March 29, 1979: "My positions are those of what we can call the 'new right', and have nothing to do with the bourgeois, conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, and reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
right."
Louis Pauwels
Louis Pauwels
Louis Pauwels was a French journalist and writer.- Biography :Louis Pauwels was a teacher at Athis-Mons from 1939 to 1945 , Louis Pauwels wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 until the...
, former director of the fantastic realist
Fantastic realism (literature)
Fantastic Realism was a self-described movement introduced in 1960 in The Morning of the Magicians , subtitled "Introduction to Fantastic Realism" by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels. The two authors published the Planète magazine from 1961 to 1972...
magazine Planète
Planète
Planète was a French fantastic realism magazine created by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels. It ran from 1961 to 1972.They were the authors of the successful book The Morning of the Magicians , subtitled "Introduction to Fantastic Realism," published in October 1959 Jacques Bergier set...
, entered in September 1977 the cultural services of Le Figaro, and became in October 1978 the director of the newly created weekly Le Figaro Magazine. The latter would become one of the main means of dissemination of the ideas of the Nouvelle Droite, including GRECE member Patrice de Plunkett
Patrice de Plunkett
Patrice de Plunkett is a French journalist and essayist who specializes in analyzing social issues. He was the editor of Le Figaro Magazine, one of the major French weekly magazines. After leaving this magazine in 1997, he has written a number of books.In 1983, he received the Renaissance Award...
as deputy chief editor, as well as fellow GRECE members Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
, Jean-Claude Valla, Yves Christen, Christian Durante and Michel Marmin. Although other currents were represented in Le Figaro Magazine, the weekly remained one of the main mouthpieces of the Nouvelle Droite until 1981 and the election
French presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
of François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
.
Ideology
According to Tamir Bar-On, the arguments and the positions of the Nouvelle Droite can not be easily positioned in the traditional Left-Right dichotomyLeft-Right politics
The left–right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions, political ideologies, or political parties along a one-dimensional political spectrum. The perspective of Left vs. Right is a binary interpretation of complex questions...
, noting that it is some sort of ideological synthesis of ideas of the Weimar Revolutionary Right (such as Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, philosopher, political theorist, and professor of law.Schmitt published several essays, influential in the 20th century and beyond, on the mentalities that surround the effective wielding of political power...
, Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...
and Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger was a German writer. In addition to his novels and diaries, he is well known for Storm of Steel, an account of his experience during World War I. Some say he was one of Germany's greatest modern writers and a hero of the conservative revolutionary movement following World War I...
) and the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
.
Paul Piccone
Paul Piccone
Paul Piccone was the founder and long-time editor of the journal TELOS.He was born in L'Aquila in Italy to a family that emigrated to Rochester, New York in the mid-1950s. In 1968 he and others started the journal TELOS, which he edited until his death in 2004.He completed a doctorate in...
, editor and founder of the New Left journal Telos
TELOS (journal)
Telos is an academic journal published in the United States. It was founded in May 1968 to provide the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective. It sought to expand the Husserlian diagnosis of "the crisis of European sciences" to prefigure a particular program of social reconstruction...
wrote in 1993: "What makes the French New Right particularly interesting is that is does not propose a bizarre reversal of positions, but the end of the traditional contraposition of Left and Right in favour of a new political paradigm."
De Benoist has claimed that:
Critics identify the Nouvelle Droite as a new or sanitized form of neo-fascism
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
, or an ideology of the extreme right that significantly draws from fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
(Laqueur, 1996; Lee, 1997).
Broader European New Right
Nouvelle Droite arguments can be found in the rhetoric of many major radical rightRadical Right
Radical Right is a generally pejorative term used to describe various political movements on the right that are conspiracist, attuned to anti-American or anti-Christian agents of foreign powers, and "politically radical." The term was first used by social scientists in the 1950s regarding small...
and far-right parties in Europe such as the National Front in France, the Freedom Party
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
(Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
). This, despite the fact that Alain de Benoist and certain other ideologues of the Nouvelle Droite, since the late 80s, had issued statements against some populist far-right movements.
Although mostly known in France, according to Minkenberg, the Nouvelle Droite borders to other European "New Right" movements, such as Neue Rechte
Neue Rechte
The Neue Rechte is a German political movement, founded in opposition to the "New Left" generation of the 1960s. Ideologically, they are linked to the ideologues of the Weimar Conservative Revolution, which included such people as Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler and Ernst von Salomon...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, New Right
New Right (UK)
New Right is a UK-based pan-European nationalist, conservative revolutionary think tank and school of thought, led by national-anarchist Troy Southgate and Jonathan Bowden....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Nieuw Rechts
New Right (Netherlands)
New Right was a nationalist Dutch political party, founded by Michiel Smit in February 2003 and dissolved in December 2007.-History:...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Flanders, Forza Nuova in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Imperium Europa
Imperium Europa
Imperium Europa is a New Right positioned far-right Maltese political party, founded in 2000 by Norman Lowell, who is also its leader...
in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, and the New Right of Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich
Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
and the Free Congress Foundation
Free Congress Foundation
The Free Congress Foundation , is a conservative think tank founded by Paul Weyrich. It was based near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
This claim is disputed by most other scholars, who argue that the European New Right has some superficial similarities to certain sectors of the New Right in the United States, but not the entire New Right coalition. The European New Right is similar to the Cultural Conservatism
Cultural conservatism
Cultural conservatism is described as the preservation of the heritage of one nation, or of a shared culture that is not defined by national boundaries. Other variants of cultural conservatism are concerned with culture attached to a given language such as Arabic.The shared culture may be as...
movement led by Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich
Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
and the Free Congress Foundation
Free Congress Foundation
The Free Congress Foundation , is a conservative think tank founded by Paul Weyrich. It was based near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C...
, and to the related traditionalism of paleoconservatives
Paleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism is a term for a conservative political philosophy found primarily in the United States stressing tradition, limited government, civil society, anti-colonialism, anti-corporatism and anti-federalism, along with religious, regional, national and Western identity. Chilton...
such as Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
and the Chronicles (magazine)
Chronicles (magazine)
Chronicles is a U.S. monthly magazine published by the Rockford Institute. Its full current name is Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. The magazine is known for promoting anti-globalism, anti-intervention and anti-immigration stances within conservative politics, and is considered one of...
of the Rockford Institute
Rockford Institute
Rockford Institute is a conservative think-tank associated with paleoconservatism, based in Rockford, Illinois. It is known for the John Randolph Club, and publishes Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture....
(Diamond, Himmelstein, Berlet and Lyons). However these subgroups of the New Right coalition in the United States are closely tied to Christianity, which the Nouvelle Droite rejects, describing itself as a pagan movement. Both Jonathan Marcus, Martin Lee and Alain de Benoist himself have highlighted these important differences with the US New Right coalition
As Martin Lee explains,
Neopaganism
The political ideology of the New Right has affinities with some ethnocentric currents of neopaganismNeopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
. Some proponents go as far as describing the Nouvelle Droite as an essentially pagan movement. The philosophical background uniting Neopaganism and the Nouvelle Droite is the occultist or esoteric literature of "Integral Traditionalism" of René Guénon
René Guénon
René Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
, Julius Evola
Julius Evola
Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
and others. A Belgian proponent of "Integral Traditionalist" Asatru is Belgian high priest Koenraad Logghe
Koenraad Logghe
Koenraad Logghe used to be a Flemish proponent of the European New Right and former "high priest" of folkish Asatru , founder of the Werkgroep Traditie neopagan organization . which he left in the summer of 2008...
.
Further reading
- Tamir Bar-OnTamir Bar-OnTamir Bar-On is the leading Anglo-American expert on the French Nouvelle Droite or European New Right , a school of thought accused of fascism by its liberal and left-wing critics...
, Where Have All the Fascists Gone?, Hampshire and Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007. - Tamir Bar-OnTamir Bar-OnTamir Bar-On is the leading Anglo-American expert on the French Nouvelle Droite or European New Right , a school of thought accused of fascism by its liberal and left-wing critics...
, "Fascism to the Nouvelle Droite: The Dream of Pan-European Empire", Journal of Contemporary European Studies 16/3 (2008). - Pierre-André TaguieffPierre-André TaguieffPierre-André Taguieff is a philosopher and director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in an Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris laboratory, the CEVIPOF...
, Sur la Nouvelle Droite: Jalons d'une analyse critique (1994) ISBN 2-910301-02-8 - Roger GriffinRoger GriffinRoger D. Griffin is a British academic political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His recent efforts have focused on a definition and examination of fascism...
, "Between Metapolitics and Apoliteia: The Nouvelle Droite's Strategy for Conserving the Fascist Vision in the 'Interregnum'", Modern & Contemporary France 8/1, 2000. - Alberto Spektorowski, "The New Right: Ethno-regionalism, Ethno-pluralism and the Emergence of a Neo-fascist 'Third Way'", Journal of Political Ideologies 8/1, 2003.
- Walter LaqueurWalter LaqueurWalter Zeev Laqueur is an American historian and political commentator. He was born in Breslau, Germany , to a Jewish family. In 1938, Laqueur left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine. His parents, who were unable to leave, became victims of the Holocaust...
, Fascism: Past, Present, Future, New York: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. - Martin A. LeeMartin A. LeeMartin A. Lee is an American author and activist who has written books and articles on far-right movements, terrorism, media issues, and drug politics.Lee has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan...
, The Beast ReawakensThe Beast ReawakensThe Beast Reawakens is a book by investigative journalist Martin A. Lee. It tells the story of old-guard fascists' strategy for survival and the revival of fascism...
, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1997, pp. 209–211. - Jonathan Marcus, The National Front and French Politics, New York: New York University Press, 1995.
- Sara DiamondSara DiamondSara Rose Diamond is an American sociologist and attorney, and the author of four books that "study and expose the agenda and tactics of the American political right wing." .-Biography:...
, Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, New York: Guilford, 1995. ISBN 0-89862-864-4. - Jerome L. Himmelstein, To The Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
- Chip BerletChip BerletJohn Foster "Chip" Berlet is an American investigative journalist, and photojournalist activist specializing in the study of right-wing movements in the United States, particularly the religious right, white supremacists, homophobic groups, and paramilitary organizations...
and Matthew N. Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, New York: Guilford Press, 2000. ISBN 1-57230-568-1, ISBN 1-57230-562-2 - Miro Jennerjahn, Neue Rechte und Heidentum ("New Right and Paganism"), Peter Lang (2006), ISBN 3-631-54826-5 http://www.miro-jennerjahn.eu/neue_rechte_und_heidentum_inhalt.html