Right-wing politics
Right-wing politics or rightism is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position in favour of conservatism, natural law, economics, authority, property, religion, or tradition. Hierarchy and inequality may be seen as natural results of traditional social differences or competition in market economies.
Right-wing politics are considered the counterpart to left-wing politics, and the left–right political spectrum is the most common political spectrum. The right includes social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, as well as laissez-faire economic policies. "Right" and "right-wing" have been variously used as compliments and pejoratives describing neoliberal, conservative, and fascist economic and social ideas.
Name
The political terms Left and Right were first used in the 18th century, during the French Revolution, referencing the seating arrangement of the French parliament. Those who sat to the right of the chair of the presiding officer were generally supportive of the institutions of the monarchist Old Regime. The original "Right" in France was formed in reaction to the "Left" and comprised those supporting hierarchy, tradition, and clericalism. The expression la droite increased in use after the restoration of the monarchy in 1815, when it was applied to the ultra-royalists.Positions
The following positions are typically associated with right-wing politics.Anti-communism
Early communists used the term "right-wing" in reference to conservatives, placing the conservatives on the right, the liberals in the centre and the communists on the left. Both the conservatives and the liberals were strongly anti-communist, although the conservatives' anti-communism was much stronger than liberals'. The history of the use of the term right-wing about anti-communism is a complicated one.Early Marxist movements were at odds with the traditional monarchies that ruled over much of the European continent at the time. Many European monarchies outlawed the public expression of communist views and the Communist Manifesto, which began " spectre is haunting Europe", and stated that monarchs feared for their thrones. Advocacy of communism was illegal in the Russian Empire, the German Empire, and Austria-Hungary, the three most powerful monarchies in continental Europe before World War I. Many monarchists viewed inequality in wealth and political power as resulting from a divine natural order. The struggle between monarchists and communists was often described as a struggle between the Right and the Left.
File:За единую Россію.jpg|thumb|Anti-communist propaganda poster depicting the White movement which says "For a united Russia", 1919
By World War I, in most European monarchies, the divine right of kings had become discredited and was replaced by liberal and nationalist movements. Most European monarchs became figureheads, or they yielded some power to elected governments. The most conservative European monarchy, the Russian Empire, was replaced by the communist Soviet Union. The Russian Revolution inspired a series of other communist revolutions across Europe in the years 1917–1923. Many of these, such as the German Revolution, were defeated by nationalist and monarchist military units. During this period, nationalism began to be considered right-wing, especially when it opposed the internationalism of the communists.
The 1920s and 1930s saw the decline of traditional right-wing politics. The mantle of conservative anti-communism was taken up by the rising fascist movements on the one hand and by American-inspired liberal conservatives on the other. When communist groups and political parties began appearing around the world, their opponents were usually colonial authorities and the term right-wing came to be applied to colonialism.
After World War II, communism became a global phenomenon and anti-communism became an integral part of the domestic and foreign policies of the United States and its NATO allies. Conservatism in the post-war era abandoned its monarchist and aristocratic roots, focusing instead on patriotism, religious values, and nationalism. Throughout the Cold War, postcolonial governments in Asia, Africa, and Latin America turned to the United States for political and economic support. Communists were also enemies of capitalism, portraying Wall Street as the oppressor of the masses. The United States made anti-communism the top priority of its foreign policy, and many American conservatives sought to combat what they saw as communist influence at home. This led to the adoption of several domestic policies that are collectively known under the term McCarthyism. While both liberals and conservatives were anti-communist, the followers of Senator McCarthy were called right-wing and those on the right called liberals who favoured free speech, even for communists, leftist.
Economics
Early forms of corporatism would be developed in Classical Greece and used in Ancient Rome. Plato would develop the ideas of totalitarian and communitarian corporatist systems of natural based classes and social hierarchies that would be organised based on function, such that groups would cooperate to achieve social harmony by emphasising collectives interests over individual interests. Corporatism as a political ideology advocates the organisation of society by corporate groups—such as agricultural, labour, military, scientific, or guild associations—based on their common interests.After the decline of the Western Roman Empire corporatism became limited to religious orders and to the idea of Christian brotherhood, especially in the context of economic transactions. From the High Middle Ages onwards corporatist organisations became increasingly common in Europe, including such groups as religious orders, monasteries, fraternities, military orders such as the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Order, educational organisations such as the emerging universities and learned societies, the chartered towns and cities, and most notably the guild system which dominated the economics of population centres in Europe.
In post-revolutionary France, the Right fought against the rising power of those who had grown rich through commerce, and sought to preserve the rights of the hereditary nobility. They were uncomfortable with capitalism, the Enlightenment, individualism, and industrialism, and fought to retain traditional social hierarchies and institutions. In Europe's history, there have been strong collectivist right-wing movements, such as in the social Catholic right, that have exhibited hostility to all forms of liberalism and have historically advocated for paternalist class harmony involving an organic-hierarchical society where workers are protected while class hierarchy remains.
In the 19th century, the Right had shifted to support the newly rich in some European countries and instead of favouring the nobility over industrialists, favoured capitalists over the working class. Other right-wing movements—such as Carlism in Spain and nationalist movements in France, Germany, and Russia—remained hostile to capitalism and industrialism. Nevertheless, a few right-wing movements—notably the French Nouvelle Droite, CasaPound, and American paleoconservatism—are often in opposition to capitalist ethics and the effects they have on society. These forces see capitalism and industrialism as infringing upon or causing the decay of social traditions or hierarchies that are essential for social order.
''Laissez-faire'' schools
In modern times, "right-wing" is sometimes used to describe laissez-faire capitalism. In Europe, capitalists formed alliances with the Right during their conflicts with workers after 1848. In 1871, the Austrian school came to be with the work of Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, and others, originating from methodologically opposition to the Historical school, in a dispute known as Methodenstreit. The Austrian school opposition to be heterodox, advocating strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result primarily from the motivations and actions of individuals along with their self interest. Austrian-school theorists hold that economic theory should be exclusively derived from basic principles of human action.In France, the Right's support of capitalism can be traced to the late 19th century. The so-called neoliberal Right, popularised by US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, combines support for free markets, privatisation, and deregulation with traditional right-wing support for social conformity.
Nationalism
In France, nationalism was originally a left-wing and republican ideology. After the period of boulangisme and the Dreyfus affair, nationalism became a trait of the right-wing. Right-wing nationalists sought to define and defend a "true" national identity from elements which they believed were corrupting that identity. Some were supremacists, who in accordance with scientific racism and social Darwinism applied the concept of "survival of the fittest" to nations and races.Right-wing nationalism was influenced by Romantic nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy from the organic unity of those who it governs. This generally includes the language, race, culture, religion, and customs of the nation, all of which were "born" within its culture. Linked with right-wing nationalism is cultural conservatism, which supports the preservation of the heritage of a nation or culture and often sees deviations from cultural norms as an existential threat.
In the 21st century, neo-nationalism came to prominence after the Cold War in the Western world. It is typically associated with cultural conservatism, populism, anti-globalisation, and nativism and is opposed to immigration. The ideology takes historical association in determining membership in a nation, rather than racial concepts.