Chambers, Trilling, and the Conservative Turn

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-348
Author(s):  
Deborah Kisatsky
Keyword(s):  
Conservative Turn

Lawyers and the Conservative Counterrevolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (04) ◽  
pp. 1698-1728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Southworth
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
The Other ◽  
American Government ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Legal Activism ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Legal Advocacy ◽  
American Law ◽  
Roll Back ◽  
Conservative Turn

What roles have lawyers played in the conservative counterrevolution in US law and public policy? Two recent books, Jefferson Decker's The Other Rights Revolution: Conservative Lawyers and the Remaking of American Government (2016), and Amanda Hollis-Brusky's Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution (2015), speak to the question. This essay explores how these books relate to a larger story of the conservative legal movement and the roles that lawyers and their organizations and networks have played in the conservative turn in American law and politics. It highlights four interrelated threads of the movement's development: creating a support structure for conservative legal advocacy; remaking the judiciary and holding judges accountable; generating, legitimizing, and disseminating ideas to support legal change; and embracing legal activism to roll back government. The essay then considers a continuing challenge for the movement: managing tensions among its several constituencies. Finally, it suggests how this story has played out in litigation to challenge campaign finance regulation.

The Battle for Big Sur; or, Debating the National Environmental Ethic

Big Sur ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Alden Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Local Management ◽  
White House ◽  
Big Sur ◽  
Ansel Adams ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
Conservative Turn

At the end of the 1970s, Carmel resident Ansel Adams turned his considerable influence toward securing federal protection for the Big Sur coastline. Adams endeavored to secure the designation of a Big Sur National Seashore while Democrats still controlled Congress and the White House, but he had an uphill battle during the conservative ascendancy that brought Ronald Reagan into the White House at a time when the nation’s faltering economy challenged bipartisan support for environmental protection. Adams also misread the vehemence with which locals guarded their right to steward the land and live without a federal landlord. Chapter 6 examines the battle over Big Sur as Adams, U.S. congressmen and senators, the Wilderness Society, Monterey County officials, and Big Sur residents debated the cultural, political, and environmental borders of this prized landscape. The chapter argues that like other debates of the era, the question of management authority for Big Sur became value-laden as issues of constitutional rights, privilege, and spirituality played key roles in shaping opinions on the appropriate relationship between people and nature. A place as popular as Yosemite could not escape such national attention, but remarkably, Big Sur’s small number of residents could harness the conservative turn to argue successfully for local management of a national treasure.

Post-Soviet Russia

2019 ◽  
pp. 181-212
Author(s):  
Paul Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Political Authority ◽  
Western World ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Central Authority ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
The Core ◽  
Russian Politics ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Conservative Turn

This chapter looks at conservatism in post-Soviet Russia, particularly during the 2010s when there arose a “conservative turn” in Russian politics and society. This was associated with a revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, centralization of political authority, growing Russian nationalism, increased tensions between Russia and the Western world, and socially conservative legislation. These phenomena have made Russian conservatism a matter of considerable contemporary importance. The chapter describes multiple types of conservatism and shows that what all these groups have in common is support for a strong centralized state and belief in the need for Russia to protect its sovereignty and develop in an organic fashion, befitting its national traditions. Despite all the differences, as in previous eras, Orthodoxy, a belief in a strong central authority, and variations of nationalism remain at the core of Russian conservatism.

The Great Reforms

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-98
Author(s):  
Paul Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Judicial System ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Government Reforms ◽  
First Time ◽  
Conservative Turn ◽  
Great Reforms

This chapter takes a look at the Great Reforms, a series of reforms conducted by Nicholas's son and successor, Alexander II. In March 1861, he decreed the emancipation of the serfs. Another important element of the Great Reforms was an overhaul of the judicial system in 1864, the most notable part of which was the establishment for the first time of trial by jury. Also in 1864, Alexander introduced a system of elected local self-government. Reforms continued into the 1870s, the most important probably being the reorganization of the army, which introduced a system of general conscription. But although reform continued, from the mid-1860s onward popular enthusiasm for it began to decline, and Russia's educated elites shifted in a conservative direction. Two factors contributed to this conservative turn. The first was a revolt that broke out in Poland in 1863, which the Russian government eventually crushed in 1864. The second was an increase in radical terrorism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document