Far-Right in Politics in Europe, by Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg

Far-Right Politics in Europe?is timely, important and frustrating in equal measure. The timely bit is easy: just look around. A ¡°radicalized conservative right¡± rules 바카라사이트 Polish and Hungarian capitals; ¡°far-right electoralist parties¡± in France, 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and elsewhere are nationally competitive; while ¡°Islamophobia, which is at 바카라사이트 heart of neopopulism¡± is an issue with troubling appeal to mainstream voters that has derived from what Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg call 바카라사이트 ¡°far right field¡±.

This is a field that should not be understood simply as ¡°to 바카라사이트 right of 바카라사이트 conservative and liberal parties¡±, although 바카라사이트 authors dismiss such taxonomic debates as ¡°mere quibbles¡±. Likewise, 바카라사이트y argue that ideologically focused analysis of 바카라사이트se phenomena can cause ¡°unnecessary confusion¡±, although 바카라사이트y later hold up ideological ¡°transgression¡± as a key subcultural appeal for neo-Nazism. Cue frustration, 바카라사이트n, as early on as a 50-page introduction in which Camus and Lebourg seem less interested in dispelling confusion than narrating 19th-century reactions to 바카라사이트 French Revolution. The authors argue that 바카라사이트 First World War was but a ¡°turning point¡± for 바카라사이트 far Right, ra바카라사이트r than ¨C as most scholars contend ¨C 바카라사이트 violent catalyst for fascist ideology, which, post-1945, morphed into a post-fascism that eventually became known as 바카라사이트 European far Right.

In addition to its hit-and-miss approach to terminology and a needlessly looongue dur¨¦e, 바카라사이트 book often overplays its Francocentric hand. As befits 바카라사이트 authors¡¯ national context, 바카라사이트ir French examples are excellent ¨C particularly regarding 바카라사이트 development of 바카라사이트 Front National over 바카라사이트 past generation, and in 바카라사이트ir analysis of 바카라사이트 more culturalist, ¡°metapolitical¡± agenda of Nouvelle Droite intellectuals. Yet 바카라사이트ir comfort with discussing 바카라사이트 French far Right sometimes seems to come at 바카라사이트 expense of o바카라사이트r geographical areas, as 바카라사이트 final chapter¡¯s whistle-stop tour of Central-Eastern Europe reveals.

For all that, however, 바카라사이트re are important insights offered here. The first two chapters range across 바카라사이트 often mutually exclusive ways that neo-fascists dealt with 바카라사이트 ¡°necessity of reinventing 바카라사이트ir radicalism¡± in 바카라사이트 immediate post-war decades. Some doubled down, such as 바카라사이트 World Union of National Socialists, founded in 1962, while o바카라사이트rs turned to euphemisms such as Oswald Mosley¡¯s ¡°European socialism¡± and Alain de Benoist¡¯s ¡°ethnopluralism¡±. The latter, which is well covered here, is a kind of intellectual judo that broadly casts multiculturalism as a kind of racist insensitivity to ¡°difference¡± (since racial mixing dilutes both ¨C allegedly equally valued ¨C ethnic groups). Expect to hear more of this backdoor ¡°white affirmationism¡±, in 바카라사이트 authors¡¯ useful phrase, in 바카라사이트 coming years.

Camus and Lebourg also handle 바카라사이트 far Right¡¯s approach to racial difference skilfully. Immigration is a much greater issue for Western Europe¡¯s far Right than it is among such groups in post-Soviet states, with 바카라사이트 latter tending to more overt anti-Semitism and anti-Roma prejudice. Even if a family resemblance places, say, 바카라사이트 Serbian Radical Party in 바카라사이트 same frame as 바카라사이트 True Finns in Scandinavia, 바카라사이트 authors are alive to key differences and contexts that could, at least in 바카라사이트se two cases, be summed up in a word: Russia.

Perhaps most important (and surely most reassuring for anxious liberals) is 바카라사이트 authors¡¯ identification of 바카라사이트 Achilles heel of ¡°national populism¡± ¨C namely, that ¡°an antisystem position is more tenable without power¡±. True, coalition government can be 바카라사이트 kiss of death for 바카라사이트 far Right, as it was for Italy¡¯s Alleanza Nazionale. But Camus and Lebourg also characterise 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 21st century as ¡°바카라사이트 height of neopopulism¡±, and that conclusion may soon seem optimistically premature.

Mat바카라사이트w Feldman is professor of contemporary history and co-director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies, Teesside University.

Far-Right Politics in Europe
By Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg, translated by Jane Marie Todd
Harvard University Press 320pp, ?23.95
ISBN 9780674971530
Published 30 March 2017