National conservatism
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism, while not being nationalist or a far-right approach.[1]. Many national conservatives are social conservatives, in favour of limiting immigration, and in Europe, they usually are eurosceptics.[2]
National conservatism is related to social conservatism, and as such may be heavily oriented towards the traditional family and social stability. According to one Austrian scholar, "national conservatism praises the family as a home and a centre of identity, solidarity and emotion."[3]
Besides those common elements, national conservatives may hold different views in different countries, depending on local factors. This is particularly true in the case of economic issues, where the views of national conservatives can range anywhere between support for a planned economy to advocating a centrist mixed economy to upholding a laissez-faire economy. As such, national conservatives can be distinguished from economic conservatives, for whom free market economic policies are the main priority. Some commentators have identified a growing gap between national and economic conservatism: "...most parties of the Right [today] are run by economic conservatives who, in varying degrees, have marginalized social, cultural, and national conservatives."[4]
National conservatism can be said to fill the political gap between established centre-right political parties and the nationalist far right. Examples of national-conservative parties include:
- Vlaams Belang (Belgium)
- Bharatiya Janata Party (India)
- Danish People's Party (Denmark)
- Democratic Unionist Party (Northern Ireland)
- Law and Justice (Poland)
- League of Polish Families (Poland)
- Movement for France (France)
- National Alliance (Italy)
- National Religious Party
- Nationalist Movement Party (Turkey)
- The Right (Italy)
- Sweden Democrats (Sweden)
- Swiss People's Party (Switzerland)
Among current world leaders, Polish president Lech Kaczyński and his brother, former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, have been described in the media as "national conservatives", along with the Law and Justice party to which they belong.[2][5]
References
- ^ See, for example, the description of conservative parties, their national-conservative variant at http://www.parties-and-elections.de/contents.html, as opposed to the description of nationalist parties there.
- ^ a b Traynor, Ian, The EU's weary travellers The Guardian, April 4 2006
- ^ Rosenberger, Sieglinde, Europe is swinging towards the right - What are the effects on women?, University of Vienna, 2002
- ^ National questions - conservatives fragmenting as liberals unite, National Review, June 30 1997
- ^ Goethe and Dostoyevsky Escape Poland's Literary Cull, Der Spiegel, June 6 2007
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