Neoconservatism

A neoconservative (colloquially, neocon) in American politics is a former liberal who rejects statism and has adopted conservative positions on economic and foreign policy issues. Neoconservatives favor globalism, downplay religious issues, and often disagree with religious conservatives on social issues like abortion and homosexuality. In addition to those issues, they also disagree with paleoconservatives on issues like the separation of powers, cultural unity, and immigration.

Neoconservatives place their highest domestic priority on opposing affirmative action. On foreign policy, neoconservatives believe that democracy can and should be installed by the United States around the world, even in Muslim countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Neoconservatives are frequently presented by the media as "conservatives" rather than as the "neoconservatives". Neoconservatives dominated the administration of President George W. Bush, and strongly promoted the Iraq War. Neoconservatives also favor military action against Iran.

Origin

Irving Kristol was dubbed by many as "the Godfather" of Neo-conservatism

One major strand of Neoconservatism emerged from a group of New York intellectuals, many of whom attended City College of New York in the late 1930s, a group that includes Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell, Seymour Martin Lipset and Nathan Glazer. Many of this group came to despise the counterculture of the 1960s and what they felt was a growing "anti-Americanism" among many baby boomers. And during the Cold War era, many of them came to realize the evil of the Stalinist regime. Kristol described a neoconservative as a "liberal mugged by reality".

Strauss

A second main line of development of neoconservatism was strongly influenced by the work of German-American political philosopher Leo Strauss. Some of Strauss' students include Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, former Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes, former Secretary of Education William Bennett, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, political philosopher Allan Bloom, former New York Post editorials editor John Podhoretz, former National Endowment for the Humanities Deputy Chairman John T. Agresto; politial scientist Harry V. Jaffa; and Nobel Prize winning novelist Saul Bellow.

Values

Neoconservatives also tend to minimize or overlook the significance of religious beliefs in conflicts and policies, as in advocating the installation of democracy in Muslim countries with little regard for Islamic beliefs and practices.

Neoconservatives hold an idealistic belief in social progress and the universality of human rights, coupled with anti-Communism. They hold the view that there is a universal desire to live in a technologically advanced and prosperous society and liberal democracy is one of the byproducts of such modernization.

Publications

The leading publications of neoconservatives are Commentary and The Weekly Standard. Many Washington think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Project For New American Century (PNAC), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and Henry Jackson Society are now dominated by neoconservatives.

Social Issues

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, was a prominent architect of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration known as the Bush Doctrine

Neoconservatives often take libertarian positions on social issues, and are unlikely to agree with religious conservatives on issues like abortion, prayer in school and same-sex marriage. Neoconservatives differ from libertarians in that neoconservatives tend to support Big government policies to further their objectives, and to support Bush's 2001 Patriot act.

Neoconservatives often describe themselves as "conservative". William Kristol, a leading neoconservative, described himself as the "token conservative" when he taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

In anticipation of vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court, the neoconservatives urged the selection of Michael McConnell, a libertarian-leaning jurist, and J. Michael Luttig, who declared Roe v. Wade to be "super-stare decisis" and later left the judiciary to become general counsel of Boeing. Both were passed over in filling the vacancies with religious conservatives.

Influence

Neoconservatives are small in number but dominate television talk shows, magazines, Washington-based think tanks, and advisory positions in Republican Administrations. Some prominent neoconservatives are William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby, David Horowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Christopher Hitchens, Willmoore Kendall, Stephen Schwartz, Elliott Abrams and Carl Gershman. Some critics have argued that the neoconservative concept of "global democratic revolution" was derived from the Trotskyist Fourth International's "vision of permanent revolution". Stephen Schwartz said that "those who are fighting for global democracy should view Leon Trotsky as a worthy forerunner" and would prefer that "neocons" be called "Trotskycons".

Saa also

• George W. Bush
• Dick Cheney
• Bill Kristol
• Irving Kristol
• John Podhorertz
• Norman Podhoretz
• Paul Wolfowitz

Further reading

• Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind (1988)
• Dorrien, Gary. The Neoconservative Mind,
• Friedman, Murray. The Neoconservative Revolution: Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Fu kuyama, Francis. America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy, (2006)
• Gerson, Mark. The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to Culture Wars (1997)
• Halper, Stefan & Clarke, Jonathan, America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order (2004) ISBN 0-521-83834-7
• Murray, Douglas. Neoconservatism: Why We Need It,
• Steinfels, Peter. The Neoconservatives: The Men Who Are Changing America's Politics. (1979)
• Stelzer, Irwin. Neo-conservatism (2004)

Primary sources

• Gerson, Mark ed., The Essential Neo-Conservative Reader (1997))
• Kristol, Irving. Neoconservatism: the Autobiography of an Idea,
• Stelzer, Irwin, ed. The NeoCon Reader (2005)

External links

• A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm - a key neoconservative document.
• Neoconservatism's Future: It's still the only game in town, Joshua Muravchik, OpinionJournal.com, October 3, 2007. From Commentary.
• The Henry Jackson Society
• Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
• The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol

Daniel Pipe's official website

David Horowitz's FrontPageMag