Bar-On - Rethinking the new right: alternatives to modernity

Rethinking the French New Right

This book focuses on the philosophy, politics and impact of the New Right, which originated in France and has since influenced activism, ideology, and policy in a number of European countries.

The book explores the idea that revolutionaries do not necessarily need to come from the left, nor use arms in order to overturn liberal democracy. In the post-World War Two era, the extremists of the revolutionary right took three different paths: (1) parliamentary; (2) extra-parliamentary; and (3) metapolitical. The New Right (nouvelle droite ND in France) took the metapolitical path, but that did not mean it abandoned its revolutionary desire to smash liberal democracy throughout Europe.

The book examines four interpretations of the New Right. These interpretations include the following: (1) The New Right as a fascist or quasi-fascist movement; (2) The New Right as a challenge to the traditional rightleft dichotomy, which has structured European political debates for more than 200 years; (3) The New Right as an alternative modernist movement, which rejects liberal and socialist narratives of modernity; accepts the technical but not political or cultural effects of modernity; and longs for a pan-European political framework abolishing liberal multiculturalism and privileging ethnic dominance of so-called original Europeans; and (4) The New Right as a variant of political religion and conversionary processes. The book concludes by analysing the positions, cultural and political impact, and relationship to democracy of the New Right.

This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of racism, fascism, extremism, European politics, French politics and contemporary political theory.

Tamir Bar-On is a Full Professor in the Department of International Relations and Humanities at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Tecnolgico de Monterrey), Campus Quertaro, Mexico. He is the author of Where Have All The Fascists Gone? (2007). Bar-On received his PhD from McGill University and previously taught political science at Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Windsor, University of Toronto, and George Brown College.

Routledge studies in extremism and democracy

Series Editors: Roger Eatwell, University of Bath and Matthew Goodwin, University of Nottingham.

Founding Series Editors:Roger Eatwell, University of Bath and Cas Mudde, University of Antwerp-UFSIA.

This new series encompasses academic studies within the broad fields of extremism and democracy. These topics have traditionally been considered largely in isolation by academics. A key focus of the series, therefore, is the (inter-)relation between extremism and democracy. Works will seek to answer questions such as to what extent extremist groups pose a major threat to democratic parties, or how democracy can respond to extremism without undermining its own democratic credentials.

The books encompass two strands:

Routledge Studies in Extremism and Democracy includes books with an introductory and broad focus which are aimed at students and teachers. These books will be available in hardback and paperback. Titles include:

Understanding Terrorism in America

From the Klan to al Qaeda

Christopher Hewitt

Fascism and the Extreme Right

Roger Eatwell

Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe

Edited by Cas Mudde

Political Parties and Terrorist Groups (2nd Edition)

Leonard Weinberg, Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger

The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain

Edited by Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin

New British Fascism

Rise of the British National Party

Matthew Goodwin

The End of Terrorism?

Leonard Weinberg

Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe

From local to transnational

Edited by Andrea Mammone, Emmanuel Godin, and Brian Jenkins

Varieties of Right-Wing Extremism in Europe

Edited by Andrea Mammone, Emmanuel Godin, and Brian Jenkins

Right-Wing Radicalism Today

Perspectives from Europe and the US

Edited by Sabine von Mering and Timothy Wyman McCarty

Routledge Research in Extremism and Democracy offers a forum for innovative new research intended for a more specialist readership. These books will be in hardback only. Titles include:

1. Uncivil Society?

Contentious politics in post-communist Europe

Edited by Petr Kopecky and Cas Mudde

2. Political Parties and Terrorist Groups

Leonard Weinberg and Ami Pedahzur

3. Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge

Edited by Roger Eatwell and Cas Mudde

4. Confronting Right Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA

George Michael

5. Anti-Political Establishment Parties

A comparative analysis

Amir Abedi

6. American Extremism

History, politics and the militia

D. J. Mulloy

7. The Scope of Tolerance

Studies on the costs of free expression and freedom of the press

Raphael Cohen-Almagor

8. Extreme Right Activists in Europe

Through the magnifying glass

Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer

9. Ecological Politics and Democratic Theory

Mathew Humphrey

10. Reinventing the Italian Right

Territorial politics, populism and post-fascism

Carlo Ruzza and Stefano Fella

11. Political Extremes

An investigation into the history of terms and concepts from antiquity to the present

Uwe Backes

12. The Populist Radical Right in Poland

The patriots

Rafal Pankowski

13. Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola

Paul Furlong

14. Radical Left Parties in Europe

Luke March

15. Counterterrorism in Turkey

Policy choices and policy effects toward the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

Mustafa Coar nal

16. Class Politics and the Radical Right

Edited by Jens Rydgren

17. Rethinking the French New Right

Alternatives to modernity

Tamir Bar-On

Rethinking the French New Right

Alternatives to modernity

Tamir Bar-On

First published 2013

by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

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2013 Tamir Bar-On

The right of Tamir Bar-On to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library