Ultraconservatism

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Ultraconservatism refers to extreme conservative views in politics or religious practice.^[1] In modern politics, ultraconservative usually refers to conservatives of the far-right on the political spectrum, comprising groups or individuals who are located to the right of those willing to temporarily agree with political moderates, and continuing further right to include fringe parties.^[2]

Elements of ultraconservatism typically rely on cultural crisis; they frequently support anti-globalism – adopting stances of anti-immigration, nationalism, and sovereignty – use populism and political polarization, with in-group and out-group practices.^[3][4][5][6] The primary economic ideology for most ultraconservatives is neoliberalism.^[6] The use of conspiracy theories is also common amongst ultraconservatives.^[4]

President Jair Bolsonaro was described as an ultraconservative during his tenure, often aligning his views with President Donald Trump.^[5][7] Upon taking office, Bolsonaro nominated ultraconservative Damares Alves to head the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship.^[7][8] His government would go on to be headed by elites who broadened extractivist activities in the Amazon rainforest, while having confrontations with the indigenous peoples in Brazil.^[9]

In the United States, ultraconservatism first appeared when right-wing politicians and businesses led the opposition to the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.^[4] Beginning in the 1960s, during the Cold War, ultraconservatism began to rise to prominence, especially with the radical right organization, the John Birch Society.^{[10][11][12][13]} At this time, ultraconservatives were anticommunist, and opposed to the civil rights movement, trade unions, and social programs.^[10][11] Members of the John Birch Society believed that the civil rights movement would lead to the creation of a Soviet Negro Republic in the Southern United States.^[11][12][14] In 1961, Jacob Javits would say that ultraconservatism "represents a danger to the Republican Party", as it was "moving the party farther to the right ... [which] would transform the Republican Party into a fringe party".^[15] Beginning in the 1970s, ultraconservatives attempted to establish their principles into the government and culture of the United States, with the use of think tanks, political action committees, and lobbyists.^[6] These groups were typically supported by wealthy individuals, including the Koch brothers, the families of Richard and Dick DeVos, the Walton family, and Richard Mellon Scaife.^[6] Ultraconservatives would then "mark some groups, seemingly based on race, class, and immigration status", in an effort to polarize the public, saying that some groups were "parasitic" to the economy and took away resources from wealthy individuals who could improve the economy.^[6]

Into the 21st century, the Second New Right, specifically during the tenure of George W. Bush, became more ultraconservative, with some elements of neofascism, adopting views supporting strict law and order, the defense of private property, and using nationalism to describe a mythical "past national glory".^[16] Following the election of Barack Obama in 2008, ultraconservatives made alarmist statements about the United States debt ceiling, calling for cuts to social spending.^[6] During the Obama administration, ultraconservatives would organize Americans into the Tea Party movement, and disseminate a message of "taking back our country" from Obama and creating the birther movement.^[6]

During Xi Jinping's leadership, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become more closely related to ultraconservative,^[17] ultranationalist,^[18][19] and is referred by some as having Han-centric elements.^[20][21] Some of the CCP's politics are parallel to ideas by German ultraconservative Carl Schmitt.^[22] The Beijing Daily is a mainland Chinese newspaper, referred to by some as "ultraconservative".^[23]

Hong Kong's shrinking autonomy and democratic backsliding are linked to the Xi Jinping's rule.^[17] Some hardline pro-Beijing conservatives in Hong Kong have been referred to by critics as "ultraconservative".^[24][25][26]

Japan's far-right nationalist organization Nippon Kaigi, has been described as "reactionary"^[27] or "ultraconservative"^[28][29][30] due to its support for the constitutional amendment of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, defense of the Empire of Japan, and denial of Japanese war crimes. Since 2006, all Japanese prime ministers from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have been affiliated with the Nippon Kaigi.^[31] Fumio Kishida, who is currently the prime minister of Japan, is also a member of Nippon Kaigi.

Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe, was often described as "ultraconservative" because he supported socially conservative and strong Japanese nationalist policies.^[32][33] Bryan Mark Rigg referred to the LDP itself as "ultraconservative".^[34]

Ultraconservative has occasionally been used interchangeably with fascism, ultranationalism, and right-wing populism when describing the radical right in Europe.^[35]

The Ultra-royalists were an ultra-conservative faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration in France.^[36] An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Catholicism as the state and only legal religion of France, the Bourbon monarchy,^[37] traditional hierarchy between classes and census suffrage against popular will and the interests of the bourgeoisie and their liberal and democratic tendencies.^[38]

Action Française is a French ultraconservative monarchist political movement.^[39] Its ideology was dominated by the precepts of Charles Maurras, following his adherence and his conversion of the movement's founders to royalism.^[40] The movement supported a restoration of the House of Bourbon and, after the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State, the restoration of Roman Catholicism as the state religion—all as rallying points in distinction to the Third Republic of France which was considered corrupt and atheistic by many of its opponents.^[41]

The Conservative Revolution (German: Konservative Revolution) was an ultraconservative movement in Germany prominent during the Weimar Republic—between World War I and the Nazi seizure of power—with intellectual exponents such as Oswald Spengler, Carl Schmitt, and Ernst Jünger.^[42] Plunged into what historian Fritz Stern has named a deep "cultural despair," uprooted as they felt within the rationalism and scientism of the modern world, theorists of the Conservative Revolution drew inspiration from various elements of the 19th century, including Friedrich Nietzsche's contempt for Christian ethics, democracy and egalitarianism;^[43] the anti-modern and anti-rationalist tendencies of German Romanticism;^[44] the vision of an organic and naturally-organized folk community cultivated by the Völkisch movement; the Prussian tradition of militaristic and authoritarian nationalism; and their own experience of comradeship and irrational violence on the front lines of World War I.^[45] From the 1960–1970s onwards, the Conservative Revolution has largely influenced the European New Right, in particular the French Nouvelle Droite and the German Neue Rechte.^[46][47][48]

In its first years, Jobbik held ultraconservative stances, promoting anti-communism and anti-globalism as some of its core tenets, though it became more successful as its views became more moderate.^[49]