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Read the Foreword.

"This thoughtful book will appeal to readers across the political spectrum."
--"Harvard Law Review"

"An invaluable source . . . for anyone interested in navigating the judiciary's politics."
--"National Journal"

"The Myth of the Imperial Judiciary makes a formidable argument that conservatives indeed have an unrealistic conception of the Supreme Court."
--"Austin American Statesman"

"Kozlowski marshals history to show that not only was a strong and active judiciary intended by the Founding Fathers, but also that it has served the nation extremely well."
--"Chicago Sun-Times"

"Kozlowski effectively demonstrates that courts have far less power to operate as free agents than many believe."
--"Law and Politics Book Review"

"Kozlowski marshals history to show that not only was a strong and active judiciary intended by the Founding Fathers, it has served the nation extremely well. . . . A fine piece of scholarship."
--"Washington Post"

"How many minds his book will change on a subject so charged with emotion remainds dubious, but the points Mr. Kozlowski makes so expertly cannot in fairness be ignored."
--"New York Law Journal"

Few institutions have become as ferociously fought over in democratic politics as the courts. While political criticism of judges in this country goes back to its inception, today's intensely ideological assault is nearly unprecedented.

Spend any amount of time among the writings of contemporary right-wing critics of judicial power, and you are virtually assured of seeing repeated complaints about the "imperial judiciary." American conservatives contend not onlythat judicial power has expanded dangerously in recent decades, but that liberal judges now willfully write their policy preferences into law. They raise alarms that American courts possess a degree of power incompatible with the functioning of a democratic polity.

The Myth of the Imperial Judiciary explores the anti-judicial ideological trend of the American right, refuting these claims and taking a realistic look at the role of courts in our democracy to show that conservatives have a highly "unrealistic" conception of their power. Kozlowski first assesses the validity of the conservative view of the Founders' intent, arguing that courts have played an assertive role in our politics since their establishment. He then considers contemporary judicial powers to show that conservatives have greatly overstated the extent to which the expansion of rights which has occurred has worked solely to the benefit of liberals.

Kozlowski reveals the ways in which the claims of those on the right are often either unsupported or simply wrong. He concludes that American courts, far from imperiling our democracy or our moral fabric, stand as a bulwark against the abuse of legislative power, acting forcefully, as they have always done, to give meaning to constitutional promises.

This timely and significant book provides a comprehensive overview of right-wing ideology and policy-making in the years since Ronald Reagan left office, and an explanation of the reasons why the Republicans, the 'party of Reagan', turned towards Donald Trump. The authors assess the ways in which the Reagan legacy, rather than the empirical realities of his tenure, has impacted economic, social and cultural policy formation and conservative efforts at reshaping the United States. They also evaluate the changing relationships between different ideological currents on the right. Against this background, The American Right after Reagan discusses Trump's insurgent populism and the profound tensions that have marked his presidency. This thought-provoking book will prove invaluable to scholars in political science and American Studies, in particular those studying US domestic or foreign policy during this period. It will also provide useful insights for those seeking to understand the recent rise of right-wing populism and Trump's ascendancy.

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers in the areas of social theory, philosophy, aesthetics, and music. This volume reveals another aspect of the work of this remarkable polymath, a pioneering analysis of the psychological underpinnings of what we now call the Radical Right and its use of the media to propagate its political and religious agenda.
The now-forgotten Martin Luther Thomas was an American fascist-style demagogue of the Christian right on the radio in the 1930s. During these years, Adorno was living in the United States and working with Paul Lazarsfeld on the social significance of radio. This book, Adorno's penetrating analysis of Thomas's rhetorical appeal and manipulative techniques, was written in English and is one of Adorno's most accessible works. It is in four parts: "The Personal Element: Self-Characterization of the Agitator," "Thomas' Methods," "The Religious Medium,"and "Ideological Bait." The importance of the study is manifold: it includes a theory of fascism and anti-semitism, it provides a methodology for the cultural study of popular culture, and it offers broad reflections on comparative political life in America and Europe.
Implicit in the book is an innovative idea about the relation between psychological and sociological reality. Moreover, the study is germane to the contemporary reality of political and religious radio in the United States because it provides an analysis of rhetorical techniques that exploit potentials of psychological regression for authoritarian aims.

The role of the Spanish Right in the course of the twentieth-century has been a neglected area of academic study. The Politics of Revenge redresses this providing a succinct and disturbing account.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203400372

The Progressive Revolution (Volumes III & IV)-continues this historical and literary survey systematically chronicling both the historical significance and political deconstruction that the Progressive Revolution or the Progressive Age (circa 1860-present), particularly how this ubiquitous socialist revolution has destroyed Western Civilization and America's Judeo-Christian traditions . . . even to this day. These volumes are a collection of selected essays, articles and Socratic dialogues from Washington's weekly columns published in WND.com and RenewAmerica.com-both essential news and opinion websites of primarily conservative writers and ideas. This opus is divided into two volumes-Volume III: 2010-11 Writings; Volume IV: 2012-13 Writings-which rather than being arranged chronologically by date, are organized topically according to their subject matter of 12 intellectual disciplines including-Law, Politics, Foreign Policy, Philosophy, Aesthetics, the Academy, Religion, Economics, Science & Medicine, Culture & Society, History and Legal Scholarship.

Conservatism is often labelled as a 'disposition', 'tradition', or even a set of knee-jerk reactions, rather than an ideology, and its suspicion of grand theorising has lent itself to this characterization. In this book, leading political theorist Edmund Neill challenges this view. He argues that conservatism is better identified as an ideology, albeit one that, rather than putting forward positive values like 'liberty' or 'equality', conceptualizes human conduct as being partially dependent on forces beyond human volition, and prioritizes the cautious management of change. He charts the evolution of conservative thought from the French Revolution to the present, examining how conservatives responded to disruptions to traditional order across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Drawing on examples from Britain, France and the United States, Neill concludes with some reflections on the challenges (and opportunities) that contemporary populism presents for conservatism. This accomplished overview is essential reading for any student or scholar working in political theory and political philosophy, especially those with a particular interest in ideologies and conservatism.

Contemporary American conservatism - a melange of ideas, people, and organizations - is difficult to define; even conservatives themselves are unable to agree about its essential meaning. Yet the conservative movement is well financed, exerts strong influence in the Republican Party, inspires followers throughout the land, and has spawned a network of think tanks and media outlets that are the envy of its competitors. It is a powerful political force with which to be reckoned. This book examines how that has come about and what contemporary conservatism signifies for US politics and policy. It looks at the recent history of conservatism in America as well as its antecedents in the UK, traces changes over time using American National Election Study data from 1972 to the present in what it means when people say they are conservatives, and assesses the prospects for American conservatism, both in the near term electoral context and over the longer term as well.

Since the European-wide domination of social democratic governments during the mid- to late-1990s, Right-wing parties have returned to power in the three largest Mediterranean democracies - Italy, France and Spain. This alternation has been symptomatic of growing majoritarianism in Southern Europe, a trend which has gone against much of the rest of the continent, and of a decline in clientelist effectiveness also traditionally seen as the Southern 'norm'. This volume assesses the subsequent periods of incumbency of these three governments, considering the salient features of each in their reaction to winning government and implementing policy, given their divergent historical roots and paths to power. In particular, it focuses on the evolving role of perceived extremist elements on the Right, and adaptation to a European arena which imposes a level of continuity on incumbents of whatever hue, attempts to defend national interests notwithstanding. Lastly, it considers the extent to which the swing to the Right has already reached its peak, given the evidence of recent national and regional elections in France and Spain.

Contemporary American conservatism - a melange of ideas, people, and organizations - is difficult to define; even conservatives themselves are unable to agree about its essential meaning. Yet the conservative movement is well financed, exerts strong influence in the Republican Party, inspires followers throughout the land, and has spawned a network of think tanks and media outlets that are the envy of its competitors. It is a powerful political force with which to be reckoned. This book examines how that has come about and what contemporary conservatism signifies for US politics and policy. It looks at the recent history of conservatism in America as well as its antecedents in the UK, traces changes over time using American National Election Study data from 1972 to the present in what it means when people say they are conservatives, and assesses the prospects for American conservatism, both in the near term electoral context and over the longer term as well.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"All the greats--Buckley, Hayek, Kirk, Friedman, Reagan--are represented in the fine anthology edited by Gregory L. Schneider, and the gloves occasionally come off"
--"National Review"

"An ambitious book, chock-full of the learned and provocative writing that characterized the opposition party all throughout the strife-torn 20th century. It is brutally honest about the movement's current predicament."
--"The American Conservative"

"Liberals and conservatives alike should have no trouble endorsing this anthology from 70 years of the conservative movement in the United States."--"Library Journal"

While there have long been libertarians, agrarians, individualists, collectivists, nationalists, and others who fit the contemporary label of "conservative," no cohesive conservative movement existed prior to World War II. How, then, did conservatism develop into such a powerful American political force?

Tracing the history of conservatism from the concerns and ideas of the Old Right, through the Cold War, the "Gingrich revolution," and into the present, Conservatism in America Since 1930 gathers a wide range of conservative writings and documents showcasing the development and protean character of the modern conservative intellectual and political movement.

The book includes essays from Russell Kirk, Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, William F. Buckley, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and Pat Buchanan, among others, and highlights key debates between the movement's factions. Along with essays by these canonical conservative figures, the volume also contains excerpts from sources less frequently cited, such as the Twelve Southerners andSeward Collins, as well as documents from conservative organizations and journals. The primary documents are supplemented by introductions which set the historical context and offer illuminating commentary on how conservatism shifted identity over the course of modern American history.

In Scandinavia, there is separation in the electorate between those who embrace diversity and those who wish for tighter bonds between people and nation. This book focuses on three nationalist populist parties in Scandinavia-the Sweden Democrats, the Progress Party in Norway, and the Danish People's Party. In order to affect domestic politics by addressing this conflict of diversity versus homogeneity, these parties must enter the national parliament while earning the nation's trust. Of the three, the Sweden Democrats have yet to earn the trust of the mainstream, leading to polarized and emotionally driven public debate that raises the question of national identity and what is understood as the common man.

This book presents a provocative perspective on the impact of the Reagan administration. Many political commentators, both liberal and conservative, argue that the 1980s was a period of fundamental conservative change. Some of them believe the changes have been so important that the 1980s should be seen as a watershed period in American political history as significant as the 1930s. Schwab denies this thesis and points out that politics and policy did not fundamentally change in a conservative direction. Instead, he demonstrates how policy developments and the political system actually moved in the opposite direction. In the realm of public opinion, Schwab points out that sentiment tends to shift toward the left rather than the right. Support for social and environmental programs remained high and even increased during the Reagan era, whereas support for Defense programs dropped to a near-record low. Instead of a New Right conservative shift in public opinion on social issues, Americans became more liberal on women's rights, minority rights, and sexual behaviour issues. Schwab's critique extends as well to Reagan's political success and popularity. Rather than being one of the most successful presidents in leading Congress, he was one of the least successful. His conservative ideology lessened support for him among many voters and congressional liberals gained more voter support during the 1980s' elections than conservatives.

Most current analysis on Latin American politics has been directed at examining the shift to the left in the region. Very little attention, however, has been paid to the reactions of the right to this phenomenon. What kind of discursive, policy, and strategic responses have emerged among the right in Latin America as a result of this historic turn to the left? Have there been any shifts in attitudes to inequality and poverty as a result of the successes of the left in those areas? How has the right responded strategically to regain the political initiative from the left? And what implications might such responses have for democracy in the region? The Right in Latin America seeks to provide answers to these questions while helping to fill a gap in the literature on contemporary Latin American politics. Unlike previous studies, Barry Cannon's book does not simply concentrate on party political responses to the contemporary challenges for the right in the region. Rather he uses a wider, more comprehensive theoretical framework, grounded in political sociology, in recognition of the deep social roots of the right among Latin America's elites, in a region known for its startling inequalities. Using Michael Mann's pioneering work on power, he shows how elite dominance in the key areas of the economy, ideology, the military, and in transnational relations, has had a profound influence on the political strategies of the Latin American right. He shows how left governments, especially the more radical ones, have threatened elite power in these areas, influencing right-wing strategic responses as a result. These responses, he persuasively argues, can vary from elections, through street protests and media campaigns, to military coups, depending on the level of perceived threat felt by elites from the left. In this way, Cannon uncovers the dialectical nature of the left/right relationship in contemporary Latin American politics, while simultaneously providing pointers as to how the left can respond to the challenge of the right's resurgence in the current context of left retrenchment. Cannon's multi-faceted inter-disciplinary approach, including original research among right-leaning actors in the region makes the book an essential reference not only for those interested in the contemporary Latin American right but for anyone interested in the region's politics at a critical juncture in its history.

Neoconservatism is more of a disposition than a single political theory, but it is an attitude that has had a profound impact on the broader conservative effort in the United States since the Fifties. It is a unique blend of skepticism and fortitude about a host of wide-ranging issues, spanning culture, economics, and national defense. This book looks at six neoconservative intellectuals Irving Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Norman Podhoretz, Midge Decter, Daniel Bell, and Nathan Glazer and the intellectual influences on their thinking about the defects of communism, fascism, progressivism, the dominant American culture, and even capitalism itself. This book looks at the gestation of political criticism within the pages of the neoconservatives own writings, as well as the books they read and the thinkers they either learned from or came to fear. The book looks at the ways in which the neoconservatives adapted Lenin s formula for success to conservative efforts in the United States, arguing that neoconservatism is an anti-ideology ideology, in that it considers a New Class of professional, ideologically motivated reformers to be the greatest problem facing the United States because of their increased efforts to technocratize ordinary life, their moral relativism, their efforts to usurp human nature and supplant it with their own utopian visions, their anti-Americanism, and their unwillingness to face imminent dangers threatening the American way of life. The book argues that the neoconservative political strategy is to take the fight to the enemy.

Retrieving the Big Society presents a collection of essays that challenge the view of Britain s Big Society as a political gimmick and recognise it as an alternative to the central state in social and economic governance. Offers an original and critical take on the idea of the Big Society Attempts to make sense of the Big Society by placing in the context of the history of localism, mutualism, and voluntarism Features contributions by experts on British politics and political theory

The main area of sustained populist growth in recent decades has been Western Europe, where populist parties have not only endured longer than expected, but have increasingly begun to enter government. Focusing on three high-profile cases in Italy and Switzerland - the Popolo della Liberta (PDL), Lega Nord (LN) and Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP) - Populists in Power is the first in-depth comparative study to examine whether these parties are indeed doomed to failure in office as many commentators have claimed. Albertazzi and McDonnell's findings run contrary to much of the received wisdom. Based on extensive original research and fieldwork, they show that populist parties can be built to last, can achieve key policy victories and can survive the experience of government, without losing the support of either the voters or those within their parties. Contributing a new perspective to studies in populist politics, Populists in Power is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scholars interested in modern government, parties and politics.

Communitarianism is currently the subject of much interest and scrutiny by both liberals and conservatives. In Community and Tradition, eight distinguished scholars articulate the clearest statement to date of the conservative vision of community. In contrast to the progressive model of community, which emphasizes secular civil theologies, government, participatory democracy, and utilitarian moralities, the contributors to this volume identify and locate the roots of friendship and common purpose in tradition, intermediate associations, local autonomy, and religious belief. Not only do the contributors renew and refine the conservative understanding of community, but they also express their belief that the liberal version of community needs to be challenged. This volume is essential reading for all political theorists who study the balance between rights and responsibilities within the context of the community.

This book, first published in 1986, examines the activities and beliefs of right-wing Conservatives and overt Fascists in inter-war Britain. It analyses the role that ideology played in the various struggles between leaders and dissidents within the Conservative Party, traces the development of central themes in right-wing thought and seeks to show how the complexity of these beliefs established ideological barriers to the growth of Fascism in Britain which, it is argued, was heavily reliant upon the support of disillusioned Conservatives for its limited success. In this way the book contributes to our understanding of both the Conservative Party and the British Fascist movement between the wars, and in doing so helps to establish an overview of right-wing politics in Britain since the turn of the century. It also contains an appendix of information on lesser-known individuals and organisations on the Right.

In its time, the Quarterly Review was thought to closely reflect government policy, however, the essays in this volume reveal that it was inconsistent in its support of government positions and reflected disagreement over a broad range of religious, economic and political issues.

"Smart and thoughtful . . . Perceptive"
"--The Women's Review of Books"

"One does not associate scholars with perfect timing, news-wise, but Angela D. Dillard's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Now? could not be more of the moment."
--"New York Times Book Review"

"An excellent overview of this new movement."
--"The New Republic"

"If you, like many, marveled that George W. Bush not only did but could put together a cabinet and staff that was racially diverse as well as fiscally and morally conservative, here's a book you'll want to read."
--"Ms." magazine

In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Now? Angela Dillard offers the first comparative analysis of a conservatism which today cuts across the boundaries of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.

To be an African-American and a conservative, or a Latino who is also a conservative and a homosexual, is to occupy an awkward and contested political position. Dillard explores the philosophies, politics, and motivation of minority conservatives such as Ward Connerly, Glenn Loury, Linda Chavez, Clarence Thomas, and Bruce Bawer, as well as their tepid reception by both the Left and Right. Welcomed cautiously by the conservative movement, they have also frequently been excoriated by those African Americans, Latinos, women, and homosexuals who view their conservatism as betrayal.

Dillard's comprehensive study, among the first to take the history and political implications of multicultural conservatism seriously, is a vital source for understanding contemporary American conservatism in all its forms.

More than three decades have passed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. In that time, theories of modern revolution would suggest a retreat from ideological goals, heralding a phase of institutional development. However, Hamad Albloshi argues that Iran is unique: the current rhetoric of conservative Iranian leaders implies the regime has not left its revolutionary stage. Through an examination of the hardline conservative ideology in Iran-personified by the former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-this book explores how the usual development seen in revolutions from radical discourse to pragmatic rhetoric has not been the case in Iran. Albloshi explores the evolution of the hardline conservatives and their main ideas about the nature of the Iranian regime, their position toward other groups within the system, and their approach to the international community. By doing so, he sheds new light on the group's position in the country and the ideological roots of major shifts that occurred in Iran's internal and external policies in the period between 2005 and 2013.

The Conservative Party is one of the most successful political parties in the western world. Its success has been built on its large grass roots membership. And yet that memberhip appears to be increasingly disaffected and in decline.;This book is the first in depth study of this crucial section of the Conservative Party. Drawing on new and revealing survey data, it paints a fascinating picture of the social make-up and political views of a grass roots membership who dislike Jacques Delors more than the European Community, and The Sun newspaper most of all. The book challenges the stereotypical view of the Conservative activist as an eccentric and politically irrelevant Thatcher-loving extremist. Instead, the authors argue that the grass roots membership are the unsung heroes of political life; helping to keep the party system working and democracy intact at a time when it is under considerable strain.;The authors claim that to some extent the party is the author of its own problems, and point out the likely dire consequences for its future success if the current decline continues. They conclude by outlining the ways in which the leadership might revitalize its most important polit

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers in the areas of social theory, philosophy, aesthetics, and music. This volume reveals another aspect of the work of this remarkable polymath, a pioneering analysis of the psychological underpinnings of what we now call the Radical Right and its use of the media to propagate its political and religious agenda.
The now-forgotten Martin Luther Thomas was an American fascist-style demagogue of the Christian right on the radio in the 1930s. During these years, Adorno was living in the United States and working with Paul Lazarsfeld on the social significance of radio. This book, Adorno's penetrating analysis of Thomas's rhetorical appeal and manipulative techniques, was written in English and is one of Adorno's most accessible works. It is in four parts: "The Personal Element: Self-Characterization of the Agitator," "Thomas' Methods," "The Religious Medium,"and "Ideological Bait." The importance of the study is manifold: it includes a theory of fascism and anti-semitism, it provides a methodology for the cultural study of popular culture, and it offers broad reflections on comparative political life in America and Europe.
Implicit in the book is an innovative idea about the relation between psychological and sociological reality. Moreover, the study is germane to the contemporary reality of political and religious radio in the United States because it provides an analysis of rhetorical techniques that exploit potentials of psychological regression for authoritarian aims.