scholarly journals The Western Populist Right in 2020: A Purported Clash Between the Public Good and Individual Rights

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Migliori
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Western Democracies

The discourse revolving on the protection and enhancement of supposedly imperiled individual rights is a fixture of conservative actors across western democracies. The Covid19 pandemic represented an occasion for such actors to increase the deployment of said discourse, in order to lament citizens’ rights curtailments on the part of an intrusive state apparatus. This presentation focuses on the cases of Italy and the United States to highlight similarities and differences of the exploitation of the rights talk from crucial right-wing political actors and supportive media or interest groups. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have witnessed an exponentially growing deployment of the narrative based on allegedly threatened religious freedom and freedom of speech. These claims, analyzed in conjunction with the populist, authoritarian, ethno-nationalist agendas of such political actors, cast a light on a transnational populist religious right whose development should be closely monitored.

scholarly journals The kiss of death. Public service media under right-wing populist attack

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199133
Author(s):  
Christina Holtz-Bacha
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
The Media ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Public Scrutiny

With the surge of populism in Europe, public service broadcasting has come under increased pressure. The established media are considered part of the corrupt elite not serving the interests of the people. The public service media, for which pluralism is at the core of their remit, are a particular thorn in the side of the populists. Therefore, they attack the financial basis of public service, which is supposed to guarantee their independence. The populist attacks on the traditional broadcasting corporations meet with the interests of neoliberal politics and of those political actors who want to evade public scrutiny and democratic control and do no longer feel committed to democratic accountability. The assaults on the public service media are thus an assault on freedom of the media and further increase the pressure on the democratic system.

Privatization—Chipping Away at Government

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-128
Author(s):  
Donald Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right

This chapter focuses on the right wing's astonishingly successful efforts to privatize public goods and services. Privatization has been one of the highest priorities of the right wing for many years, and the chapter shows how it threatens both labor and democracy. Intentionally blurring the lines between public and private institutions, private companies and market forces undermine the common good. This chapter documents the history of privatization in the United States, from President Reagan's early efforts to Clinton and Gore's belief in private markets. Showing how privatization undermines democratic government, the chapter describes complex contracts that are difficult to understand, poorly negotiated “public–private partnership” deals, and contracts that provide incentives to deny public services. With huge amounts of money at stake, privateers are increasingly weighing in on policy debates—not based on the public interest but rather in pursuit of avenues that increase their revenues, profits, and market share. Privatization not only destroys union jobs but also aims to cripple union political involvement so that the corporate agenda can spread unfettered. Nevertheless, community-based battles against privatization have succeeded in many localities, demonstrating the power of fighting back to defend public services, public jobs, and democratic processes.

From Women’s Rights to Religious Freedom

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Kranson
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Legal Abortion ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Reproductive Autonomy

This essay traces the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism’s engagement in the issue of reproductive rights during the 1970s and early 1980s. Members of the Women’s League first championed legal abortion in 1970, defending their position through expressly feminist arguments supporting women’s reproductive autonomy. While they never backed down from their endorsement of legal abortion, the political shifts of the late 1970s and early 1980s compelled them to develop a new language through which to discuss the issue. Reframing access to abortion as a matter of religious freedom offered Women’s League members a way to articulate their support for the procedure without publicly endorsing the principle of women’s reproductive autonomy, an idea that had become increasingly controversial over the course of the 1970s. As much of the American public began to view a particularly right-wing, Christian opposition to abortion as a universal religious principle, the leaders of the Women’s League struggled to show that their backing of legal abortion did not conflict with their religious commitments. Framing access to abortion as a religious right enabled them to present their stance on abortion as a component of their spiritual worldview rather than as a capitulation to secular, feminist ideals.

Canada voting system will hinder right-wing populism

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Business Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Voting System ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Significance Trudeau’s government has been held up as a bulwark of liberalism given the surge of anti-immigration populist candidates and parties in Europe and the United States. However, two leadership candidates in the Conservative race have sought to ape the political style and policy agenda that brought Donald Trump to power in the United States. Mainstream Canadian political actors are seeking to either counter or benefit electorally from rising distrust in government, fears over immigration and integration, and communitarian focus on Islam within right-wing politics. Impacts Opposition to the Trump presidency may help unify fractious left-leaning Canadian voters behind the Liberals. However, the social-democratic New Democratic Party will cite Trudeau-Trump cooperation to peel off progressive voters. Alienation of anti-immigration Conservatives will increase under libertarian or pro-business leadership.

scholarly journals Elonis v. United States: The Doctrine of True Threats: Protecting Our Ever-Shrinking First Amendment Rights in the New Era of Communication

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-223
Author(s):  
Mary Margaret Roark
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Public ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The U.S

The First Amendment protects one of our most precious rights as citizens of the United States—the freedom of speech. Such protection has withstood the test of time, even safeguarding speech that much of the population would find distasteful. There is one form of speech which cannot be protected: the true threat. However, the definition of what constitutes a "true threat" has expanded since its inception. In the new era of communication—where most users post first and edit later—the First Amendment protection we once possessed has been eroded as more and more speech is considered proscribable as a "true threat." In order to adequately protect both the public at large and our individual right to free speech, courts should analyze a speaker’s subjective intent before labeling speech a "true threat." Though many courts have adopted an objective, reasonable listener test, the U.S. Supreme Court now has the opportunity, in deciding Elonis v. United States, to take a monumental step in protecting the First Amendment right to free speech. By holding that the speaker’s subjective intent to threaten is necessary for a true threat conviction, the Court will restore the broad protection afforded by the First Amendment and repair years of erosion caused by an objective approach.

Migration and Modern Religious Pluralism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Borja
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Difference ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
American Churches

In the second half of the twentieth century, the United States enacted major changes in immigration policy that, in turn, produced dramatic changes in the ethno-racial and religious makeup of the American population. Especially after 1965, unprecedented numbers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, animists, and ancestor-worshippers migrated to the United States, as did Asian, African, and Latino Christians who introduced new cultural diversity to American churches. During the same period, ideology of pluralism gained currency, and Americans revised their understanding of what it means to pursue harmonious relations across lines of religious difference. Ideas and practices of pluralism not only adjusted to these new conditions but also powerfully reshaped both secular and religious institutions in the United States in the process. However, despite the public embrace of pluralism, recent developments have made clear that aspirations of religious freedom and interfaith harmony have been more difficult to put into practice than many people have expected.

scholarly journals Who Is Open to Authoritarian Governance within Western Democracies?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ariel Malka ◽  
Yphtach Lelkes ◽  
Bert N. Bakker ◽  
Eliyahu Spivack
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Economic Attitudes ◽  
Cultural Conservatism ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Western Democracies

Recent events have raised concern about potential threats to democracy within Western countries. If Western citizens who are open to authoritarian governance share a common set of political preferences, then authoritarian elites can attract mass coalitions that are willing to subvert democracy to achieve shared ideological goals. With this in mind, we explored which ideological groups are most open to authoritarian governance within Western general publics using World Values Survey data from fourteen Western democracies and three recent Latin American Public Opinion Project samples from Canada and the United States. Two key findings emerged. First, cultural conservatism was consistently associated with openness to authoritarian governance. Second, within half of the democracies studied, including all of the English-speaking ones, Western citizens holding a protection-based attitude package⸺combining cultural conservatism with left economic attitudes⸺were the most open to authoritarian governance. Within other countries, protection-based and consistently right-wing attitude packages were associated with similarly high levels of openness to authoritarian governance. We discuss implications for radical right populism and the possibility of splitting potentially undemocratic mass coalitions along economic lines.

Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories and Violent Extremism on the Far Right: a Public Health Approach to Counter-Radicalization

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Bradley Byington
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Public ◽  
Societal Benefits ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Conspiracy Thinking

Conspiracy theories, and especially antisemitic conspiracy theories, form a core ideological component of right-wing violent extremism in the United States. This article argues that conspiracy narratives and their psychological antecedents are key to understanding the ideological appeal of right-wing extremist formations such as white supremacist and Christian Identity movements, providing insight into the motivations and behaviors of those individual participants who become sufficiently radicalized to carry out terrorist actions. It is further proposed that standard radicalization models can be enhanced for applications specific to right-wing extremism through an understanding of conspiracy thinking (both antisemitic and otherwise), and that this understanding can assist in addressing the motivated roots of the ideologies that sustain this particular type of violent extremism through a public health approach to counter-radicalization that aims to “inoculate” the public against the cognitive tendencies exemplified in antisemitic con- spiracy theories and in conspiracist culture more generally. The proposed approach would complement existing efforts in a unique way, as it would have the potential not only to improve public security, but also to provide further societal benefits by countering other negative tendencies associated with conspiracy belief (for example, decreased intention to vaccinate). This would provide an exceptional cost versus benefit ratio while supporting existing counter-radicalization programs and leaving them intact.

The Radical Right, the National Municipal League Smear File, and the Controversy over Metropolitan Government in the United States during the Postwar Years

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
John F. Brennan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Metropolitan Governance ◽  
Metropolitan Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Key Events

This paper reports on activities undertaken by the National Municipal League (NML) and the Public Administration Service (PAS) during the 1950’s and 1960’s to counter libelous and slanderous actions taken by grass roots activists in opposition to efforts to reform metropolitan governance across the United States. I utilize records from the NML archives—and give special attention to their “Smear File”—to chronicle and analyze the key events and actors. Specifically, I focus on the ideas of opponents of metropolitan government reform from the South and West in the United States including Jo Hindman, Dan Smoot, and Don Bell. These individuals used right-wing idea distribution vehicles including magazines, small-town newspapers, and subscription newsletters to disseminate their arguments and rally support for their cause. I also analyze the actions of their foes at the NML and PAS—namely those of Alfred Willoughby, Executive Director of the National Municipal League; H.G. Pope, President of the Public Administration Service;Richard S. Childs, former President of the National Municipal League; and Karl Detzer,Roving Editor for Reader’s Digest and contributing writer for the National Municipal Review, the academic and professional journal of the National Municipal League. This study adds to the literature explaining the lack of metropolitan governmental frameworks at the local level in the United States, which has been built on the work of Charles Tiebout, Vincent Ostrom, Robert Bish, Ronald Oakerson, and Roger Parks. Although this analysis is idiographic and historical in perspective, it does not necessarily challenge the core empirical results of the nomothetic modeling of these scholars.

scholarly journals Who Leads Leitkultur?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-330
Author(s):  
Ernst van den Hemel
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The West ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

Abstract A widely shared but understudied characteristic of the rise of right-wing conservative populism (the New Right) is the emphasis on religious-cultural identity of the West. Using phrases like ‘Judeo-Christianity’, ‘Christian values’, or ‘Christian Leitkultur’ a variety of political actors have claimed that religious-cultural identity needs to be safeguarded and enshrined in policy. As this frame is gaining traction, the question arises what this emphasis on the public importance of religion entails for those who tend to see themselves as the guardians of religious-cultural identity. In particular this article focusses on the challenges this development creates for Christian Democratic political actors. On the one hand the emphasis on the importance of ‘christian traditions’ resonates with the historical position of christian democrats, on the other hand, there are important differences between traditional christian democracy and how the New Right speaks of religion. The main aim of this article is to outline how the rise of the New Right has created a contestation about what it means to represent christian cultural identity.

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