scholarly journals “One Knows the Tree by the Fruit That It Bears:” Mircea Eliade’s Influence on Current Far-Right Ideology

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Mark Weitzman

Since the notorious Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the alt-right has surged into prominence as the most visible expression of right-wing extremism. While most analysts have focused on the political aspect of the movement, my article will explore the spiritual and religious roots and connections of the movement. In particular, I will focus on how Mircea Eliade, one of the most prominent figures in the academic study of the history of religion in the late 20th century, is viewed by many current extreme right thinkers. Drawing on the writings of some of the leading theoreticians and inspirations of the alt-right such as Julius Evola, Alain de Benoist, Aleksandr Dugin and Richard Spencer, as well as the prominent extreme right publishing houses, Arktos and Counter-Currents, I will show how Eliade’s extremely controversial and problematic past is seen as an intellectual and even spiritual source for these leading figures.

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Geden

Organizations of the extreme right are clearly dominated by men, much more than parties of the political mainstream. But instead of analyzing the specific attractiveness of right-wing extremism for men, gender sensible research in this field has mainly focused on women. This explorative study will reconstruct discourses of masculinity within the Freedom Party of Austria, which is part of the national government since 2000. The analysis of two of the party’s newspapers and of group discussions conducted with young party activists will show the party’s willingness to seize on the insecurities that men experience in the ongoing transformation of gender relations. We can find a general orientation towards a traditional concept of gender roles, but the ways of developing and distributing this knowledge differ widely, depending on the specific conditions in the different political arenas in which the newspapers and the activists are involved.


Author(s):  
Nitzan Shoshan

This chapter examines how Germany's young right-wing extremists articulate their relations to cultural and ethnicized difference as they discursively constitute their own political selves, focusing in particular on their identification and self-identification as easterners. It considers some developments that have reshaped the extreme right in Germany over the past couple of decades, paying attention to the contemporary legacy of the East–West divide in the post-reunification era and its political significance both nationally and, more specifcally, for the young right-wing extremists. It also analyzes the vulnerability of Ossis (East Germans) to right-wing extremism right-wing extremism in today's Germany and concludes with a discussion of important trends that have reconfigured far right nationalism across the Continent, including Germany, in recent decades.


Author(s):  
Melanie Mierzejewski-Voznyak

During much of Ukraine’s post-Soviet history, the radical right has remained on the political periphery, wielding little influence over national politics. However, from 2009 to 2014, Ukraine saw a radical right-wing party, Svoboda, enter parliament, and from 2014 to 2016 there was an increased social role played by the right-wing radical groups Pravyi Sektor and Azov. Thus, the political impact of the far right in Ukraine extends beyond electoral performance and to the activities of extra-parliamentary groups that are beginning to penetrate political life and state institutions. The radical right in Ukraine is intertwined, but not identical, with ethnic Ukrainian nationalism. The direction and development of the Ukrainian far right have thus been a result of both the historical legacy and cultural context of a nation that was ruled over by others for centuries and is home to competing ethnic nationalisms and geopolitical orientations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Olga Patrikeeva

A Majority system of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire pushed the political parties participating in election campaigns to the conclusion of electoral blocs and agreements. The purpose of this article is to find out whether the generated block of Octobrists and reactionaries in the elections in the II State Duma? Compromised if the leadership of the “Soyuz 17 oktyabrya” the pre-election agreement with such odious political force? The methodological basis of this work was the principles of historicism, scientific credibility and objectivity, as well as traditional methods of historical research: problem-chronological, comparative. Based on the analysis of preserved in the archives of the party’s correspondence and also periodicals of the time the author comes to the conclusion that the election agreement of the “Soyuz 17 oktyabrya” with the right-wing political parties did not take place. The reason is the difference in the views of the moderate and far-right politicians to solve the “Jewish question” in Russia in the early twentieth century.


Bluster ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Peter R. Neumann

This chapter covers Trump's domestic approach towards counterterrorism. It shows that Trump's attitude towards right-wing extremism is one of the most disturbing aspects of his War on Terror. Although substantive changes to domestic counterterrorism laws and policies have been relatively minor, Trump has radically transformed the political environment in which homegrown radicalization and terrorism have played out. Contrary to previous administrations, Trump has actively promoted far-right narratives, making it clear that he considers the enemy to be "radical Islam" rather than terrorism per se. In doing so, the chapter argued that he has empowered the extreme Right and "enabled" a rising number of hate crimes and terrorist attacks, while undermining the trust of Muslim communities. He has deepened divisions, further polarization, and created the fertile ground in which domestic terrorism has been able to thrive.


Fascism ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Copsey

The political science community would have us believe that since the 1980s something entirely detached from historical or neo-fascism has emerged in (Western) Europe - a populist radicalization of mainstream concerns - a novel form of ‘radical right-wing populism.’ Yet the concept of ‘radical right-wing populism’ is deeply problematic because it suggests that (Western) Europe’s contemporary far right has become essentially different from forms of right-wing extremism that preceded it, and from forms of right-wing extremism that continue to exist alongside it. Such an approach, as this First Lecture on Fascism argues, fails to appreciate the critical role that neo-fascism has played, and still plays, in adapting Europe’s contemporary far right to the norms and realities of multi-ethnic, liberal-democratic society. Political scientists should fixate less on novelty and the quest for neat typologies, and instead engage far more seriously with (neo) fascism studies.


Author(s):  
A.A. Baryshev ◽  
V.V. Kashpur

The article examines population, discursive and network approaches in political sociology to build more realistic models for describing the political field, which includes a complex of new relations between extremists and legitimate political actors in the context of the observed right turn in the functioning of political systems in many countries. The case study method was used to study the relationship between right-wing extremist communities and legal participants in the political field under the aforementioned conditions. To formulate the cases, we selected real situations associated with heterogeneous drivers of the right turn: a) right-wing populist parties, b) a bloc of right-centrist parties, c) the ruling conservative state-party alliance. Based on the materials of the generated cases, the social-constructionist, discursive nature of the concepts of (right-wing) extremism is shown, manifested in the desire of the dominant political forces to fix the categorizations of opponents that are beneficial to them and in the practices of resistance to imposed nominations as practices of liberation from stigmatization. The role of mutual transitions of political cultures and subcultures in the mechanism of functioning of liberal democracy is described. The typification of the configurations of the transmission of right-wing extremist opinions and sentiments into official political forms and into mass culture is carried out. According to sociological studies of the activity of Russian right-wing extremist online groups and their members, it has been established that under the conditions of the soft regime of state countering extremist propaganda, these opinions and sentiments are localized in online groups, and in the case of harsh prohibitive measures, they "creep" across politically neutral sites and groups. In practical terms, this creates a danger for the ruling alliance to remain on the extreme right flank of the political spectrum face to face with the growing radicalization of the mass of the population, and in aspect of the theory, it creates a problem of developing a model of political equilibrium in the era of post-ideology and the Internet.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Adam Wielomski

DIALECTICS “WE”–“ALIENS” IN RIGHT-WING POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 1789–1945. PART IIThe aim of the author of this text is to polemicize with the stereotype according to which nationalism is a synonym of the “extreme right.” For this purpose the method of historical exemplification was used. In Part II we discuss examples of nationalisms in various European states between the years 1890 and 1945: France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy. This is the epoch when nationalism denies its initial close relationship with the political and revolutionary left. Now it is in close relations with the right. During the Boulanger and Dreyfus affaires in France, the nationalists are on the political right. Their ideology is not only right-wing but also anti-Semitic. Sometimes openly racist Maurice Barrès. In general, however, French and Italian nationalists preach “state nationalism,” similar to the classic doctrine of raison d’état. In Spain and Portugal the right is strictly Catholic. This is the imperial right. We have here the dream of restoration of the Spanish Siglo de Oro. This project is antithetic to nationalism because it is universalist and supranational. It is different in Germany, where at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the whole right is lit up by the vision of conquests, German empire, struggle of races. First, the Protestant, then also the German Catholic right is chauvinistic, racist and anti-Semitic. The article ends with reflections upon the relations between political right and the idea of nationalism.


Author(s):  
Igor' Vladimirovich Antonov

The object of this research is the political history of the Ulus of Jochi as a part of the Great Mongol Empire. The subject of this is the Eastern policy of Mengu-Timur – the 6th ruler of the Ulus of Jochi (1266-1282). The author examines such aspects of the topic as the relationship of Mengu-Timur with the rulers of the uluses of Hulagu – Abaga, Chagatay – Borak, Ugedei – Kaidu, decisions made by the representatives of the uluses of Jochi, Chagatay and Ugedei in Talas Kurultai. Special attention is given to the analysis of relationship between Mengu-Timur and the ruler of the Central Ulus of Kublai, who founded the Yuan Empire. Comparative analysis is conducted on the written sources and scientific works on the topic. The sequence of events is reconstructed in chronological order. The author agrees with his predecessors that Mengu-Timur became the first sovereign ruler of the Ulus of Jochi. The scientific novelty consists in the conclusion that entitlement of Mengu-Timur as independent monarch was not a decision of Talas Kurultai. In Talas Kurultai in 1269 Kaidu was recognized as the leader of the right wing of the Mongol Empire, which included the Ulus of Jochi, Chagatay and Ugedei. The relations with the Great Khan in Kurultai were not settled, and the independence of uluses was not proclaimed. In the early 1370s, Mengu-Timur was named qayan, i.e. the supreme ruler above the khan. In 1277, Kublai's sons Numugan and Kukju were caught by the rebels, who sent them to Mengu-Timur. He did not support the rebels, but kept the son of Kublai. Since that moment, Mengu-Timur did was not subordinate to Kublai or Haidu, did not interfere into the conflict between them, restraining both of them from military clashes. Although Mengu-Timur maintained peaceful relations with other uluses, he was qayan title was not recognized.


Res Publica ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Hans De Witte ◽  
Jaak Billiet ◽  
Peer Scheepers

On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were distinguished : racism, extreme ethnic nationalism, the preference for a strong leadership, anti-parliamentarianism, and an anti-left attitude. The data of a postal survey in the spring of 1991 of a representative sample of the Flemish population in Belgium show that the items with which these extreme right-wing topics were operationalized show a one dimensional structure. About 10% to 25% of the interviewees agree with the individual items and about 20% of the subjects scored on the extreme right-wing side of the scale.  The 'hardcore' of extreme right-wing respondents is, however, much smaller (about 1% to 2%), and does not seem to be higher in Flanders than in most of the surrounding countries. The right-wing extremism scale developed correlates as expected with a previously developed typology that integrates the attitude with respect to autochthons and allochthons.  The analysis confirms that the voters for the Vlaams Blok - taken as a whole - may not be considered right-wing extremists, as suggested by previous research. Right-wing extremism correlates with a large number of attitudes and seems to be embedded in the broader opinion dimension of socio-cultural conservatism. This may also explain why it is associated primarily with the age, educational level, and religiosity of the respondents.


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