The Specter of the Past: Reconstructing Conservative Historical Memory in South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Myungji Yang
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
New Right ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right

Through the case of the New Right movement in South Korea in the early 2000s, this article explores how history has become a battleground on which the Right tried to regain its political legitimacy in the postauthoritarian context. Analyzing disputes over historiography in recent decades, this article argues that conservative intellectuals—academics, journalists, and writers—play a pivotal role in constructing conservative historical narratives and building an identity for right-wing movements. By contesting what they viewed as “distorted” leftist views and promoting national pride, New Right intellectuals positioned themselves as the guardians of “liberal democracy” in the Republic of Korea. Existing studies of the Far Right pay little attention to intellectual circles and their engagement in civil society. By examining how right-wing intellectuals appropriated the past and shaped triumphalist national imagery, this study aims to better understand the dynamics of ideational contestation and knowledge production in Far Right activism.

An Old Right in New Bottles: State without Nation in South Korean New Right Historiography

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Sungik Yang
Keyword(s):  
Recent Change ◽  
New Right ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The South ◽  
Nationalist Discourse ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Park Chung Hee ◽  
Korean State ◽  
The Right

The New Right movement that arose in the early 2000s in South Korea was a response to a change in ownership of Korean nationalist discourse during the preceding decades. Although nationalism was the preserve of the South Korean right wing from the trusteeship crisis in 1945 through the end of the Park Chung Hee regime, a historiographical revolt in the 1980s that emphasized the historical illegitimacy of the South Korean state allowed the Left to appropriate nationalism. With the loss of nationalism from its arsenal, the Right turned to postnationalist neoliberal discourse to blunt the effectiveness of leftist nationalist rhetoric. An examination of New Right historiography on the colonial and postliberation periods, however, shows that despite the recent change in conservatives’ stance on nationalism, a preoccupation with the legitimacy of the South Korean state remains at the center of right-wing historical narratives. The New Right represents old wine in new bottles.

Challenges Facing Latin American Peasant Movements under Progressive Governments and New Right-Wing Parties: The Case of Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 94-112
Author(s):  
Lia Pinheiro Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Latin American ◽  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Rural Workers ◽  
Peasant Movements ◽  
Landless Rural Workers Movement ◽  
The Right

This article analyzes the dilemmas faced by peasant movements in Brazil during the “progressive governments” and the return of the right to power. To this end, it analyzes the case of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in two scenarios of recent political history. The first is that of the progressive governments, characterized by a simultaneous opening of public space and public policies to popular movements, although at the same time and contradictorily, also to the private sector linked to financial and transnational capital. The second scenario is that of the rise of the far right to power, first through a parliamentary coup d’état, and then by an electoral process. O artigo analisa os dilemas enfrentados pelos movimentos camponeses no Brasil durante os “governos progressistas” e no retorno das direitas ao poder. Para tanto, se analisa o caso do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) em dois cenários da história política recente: o primeiro, no marco dos governos progressistas, caracterizado por uma abertura do espaço público, no campo das políticas públicas, aos movimentos populares, ainda que ao mesmo tempo e de maneira contraditória, também ao setor privado vinculado ao capital financeiro e transnacional. O segundo cenário é o da ascensão, mediante um golpe de Estado parlamentário, seguido de processo eleitoral, da direita ao poder.

scholarly journals Confederacy — the polish new right wing between tradition and modernity

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 7-32
Author(s):  
Jarosław Tomasiewicz
Keyword(s):  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
Cultural Conservatism ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
The Right

Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość (Confederacy for Freedom and Independence) is new, far-right force in Poland. Success of the KWiN broke political monopoly of the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) party on the right wing. The paper examines structure, strategy, ideology and social basis of the Confederacy. This new formation amalgamating cultural conservatism and economic liberalism is similar rather to American Trumpism and alt-right than the protest movements of Western-European right wing populism.

scholarly journals Pluralism, Governance, and the New Right in German Memory Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Wüstenberg
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Memory ◽  
New Right ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Memory Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
The Right ◽  
Alternative For Germany

The memory landscape in Germany has been lauded for its pluralism: for reckoning with the past not only critically but in its many complex facets. Nevertheless, particularly victims of repression in East Germany lament that their plight is not adequately represented and some have recently affiliated themselves with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and other groups on the far-right spectrum. This article seeks to explain the seeming contradiction between existing pluralism in German public memory and dissatisfaction with it by tracing how memory activists have shaped memory policy and institutions. Based on extensive interview and archival research, I argue that the infiltration of civil society into the institutions that govern memory in large part explains the strength of critical memory in unified Germany and the country’s ability to accommodate a variety of pasts. However, there is also a distinct lack of pluralism when it comes to the rules of “how memory is done,” to the exclusion of more emotional and politicized approaches that are sometimes favored by some victims’ groups. Using the case of the recent debate about the Hohenschönhausen Memorial, I contend that this explains some of the attraction felt by these groups towards the right.

Renaissance of the New Right in Germany? A Discussion of New Right Elements in German Right-wing Extremism Today

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Salzborn
Keyword(s):  
New Right ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Emergence Of Institutions ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Wing Extremism

Right-wing extremism in Germany has recently undergone considerable changes with a new right-wing party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) successfully entering several local state parliaments as well as the European Parliament, “Pegida” demonstrations representing a new type of public action in terms of social movements, and the emergence of institutions like the Library of Conservatism and magazine projects like Sezession. This article considers whether such developments could be seen as a renaissance of the “New Right”, representing a long-term success in its strategies. Since the 1970s, the strategy of the New Right has been based on promoting a culturally conservative metapolitics in the pursuit of “cultural hegemony”, meaning to influence public opinion in the Federal Republic of Germany and shift it to the right— which at first glance might seem to have succeeded in light of recent events. The developments seen in German far-right extremism, however, have been neither monocausal nor monolithic. Therefore, this article will take a closer look at various aspects of the idea that recent changes in Germany’s rightwing extremism might represent a successful implementation of this New Right strategy.

scholarly journals Political philosophy and Australian far-right media: A critical discourse analysis of The Unshackled and XYZ

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 072551362110086
Author(s):  
Imogen Richards ◽  
Maria Rae ◽  
Matteo Vergani ◽  
Callum Jones
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Far Right ◽  
News Websites ◽  
Conservative Revolution ◽  
Social Conservatism ◽  
European New Right

A 21st-century growth in prevalence of extreme right-wing nationalism and social conservatism in Australia, Europe, and America, in certain respects belies the positive impacts of online, new, and alternative forms of global media. Cross-national forms of ‘far-right activism’ are unconfined to their host nations; individuals and organisations campaign on the basis of ethno-cultural separatism, while capitalising on internet-based affordances for communication and ideological cross-fertilisation. Right-wing revolutionary ideas disseminated in this media, to this end, embody politico-cultural aims that can only be understood with attention to their philosophical underpinnings. Drawing on a dataset of articles from the pseudo-news websites, XYZ and The Unshackled, this paper investigates the representation of different rightist political philosophical traditions in contemporary Australia-based far-right media. A critical discourse and content analysis reveal XYZ and TU’s engagement with various traditions, from Nietzsche and the Conservative Revolution, to the European New Right and neo-Nazism.

The Perils of Vanguardism

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 947-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua C Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Asylum Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Right ◽  
Unexpected Outcome

AbstractOver the past 25 years, Sweden has gone from having one of the most generous unemployment benefit systems among the rich democracies to one of the least. This article advances a multi-causal explanation for this unexpected outcome. It shows how the benefit system became a target of successive right-wing governments due to its role in fostering social democratic hegemony. Employer groups, radicalized by the turbulent 1970s more profoundly than elsewhere, sought to undermine the system, and their abandonment of corporatism in the early 1990s limited unions’ capacity to restrain right-wing governments in retrenchment initiatives. Two further developments help to explain the surprising political resilience of the cuts: the emergence of a private (supplementary) insurance regime and a realignment of working-class voters from the Social Democrats to parties of the right, especially the nativist Sweden Democrats, in the context of a liberal refugee/asylum policy.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
pp. 7-10
Author(s):  
Anne Billson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Film Festival ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Right ◽  
World Premiere

This chapter introduces the Swedish vampire film, Låt den rätte komma (Let the Right One In), which not only stands out from contemporary vampire films, but ranks among the very best vampire movies of the past century. The chapter mentions director Tomas Alfredson and screenwriter John Ajvide Lindqvist, who adapted Låt den rätte komma from his own novel of the same name. It also mentions a song by the lugubrious British rock singer-songwriter Morrissey as Lindqvist's inspiration for the title of his novel 'Let the Right One Slip In'. It recounts Let the Right One In's world premiere on 26 January 2008 at the Göteborg International Film Festival in Sweden and screening at other festivals in Europe, North America, Australia and South Korea. The chapter explains why Let the Right One In stands head and shoulders above other recent horror movies like Twilight from 2008.

scholarly journals Elections in times of neo-coupism and populism: A short essay on Brazil's right-wing presidential candidates' plans for governance and their proposals for gender and Afro-Brazilians

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Rangel ◽  
Eneida Vinhaes Dultra
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right ◽  
Short Essay

In October 2018, Brazil held general elections in which new senators, federal representatives, state representatives, governors, and the new president of the republic were chosen. The singularity of the context surrounding the elections is evident: the call occurred two years after a presidential impeachment linked to a state coup which consolidated the ascent of populist forces from the right and which initiated a series of regressions in social rights, criminalization of progressive activism, and increase of police violence. As a result, in the presidential elections, populist candidates and discourses of hate became popular, targeting historically marginalized social groups within the country (women, African-Brazilians, LGBTQIs – Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Queers, Intersex – working class, rural communities, and the indigenous populations). This essay examines the presidential proposals or positions towards the aforementioned groups, paying particular attention to speeches of right-populist candidates, especially those made by Jair Bolsonaro, chosen in a runoff election.

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