Far-Right Newspeak and the Future of Liberal Democracy

This book is the first systematic, multicountry exploration of far-right Newspeak. The contributors analyze the ways in which contemporary far-right politicians, intellectuals, and pundits use and abuse traditional liberal concepts and ideas to justify positions that threaten democratic institutions and liberal principles. They explore cases of both far-right and right-wing thought in eastern and western Europe, the United States, and Canada. Subjects include well-known figures, such as Marine Le Pen, Tucker Carlson, Peter Thiel, Nick Griffin, Thierry Baudet, Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand, and Viktor Orbán, and lesser-known names, such as the Czech politician Tomio Okamura and the Internet personality "Raw Egg Nationalist." The contributors examine these figures' claims about hot-button issues, including immigration, Islam, race, Covid-19 policies, feminism, monetary policy, and free speech. The book demonstrates that mainstream politicians and intellectuals are at risk of losing control over the definitions of the very concepts, including equal rights, racial and ethnic diversity, and political tolerance, that undergird their vision of liberal democracy. It will be of interest to scholars, journalists, policymakers, political scientists, historians, political theorists, sociologists, and general audiences concerned about the sophisticated efforts of far-right and right-wing politicians and pundits to undermine the foundations of liberal democracy.

A. James McAdams is the William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Samuel Piccolo is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minnesota, USA.

Part I Introduction 1 Part II The Language of Liberalism 2. Masters of Contemporary Newspeak: Tucker Carlson, Marine Le Pen, and Jordan Peterson 3. "We are looking for a new feminism": Marine Le Pen's Reappropriation of the Liberal Language of Women's Rights and Gender Equality 4. Far-Right Politics in the Czech Republic: Tomio Okamura's Liberal Language and Populist Playbook Part III Far-Right Newspeak in Practice 5. The Transition From Liberal to Illiberal Constitutionalism in Poland and Hungary: the Language of Rights and Equality 6. When Legal Language Meets Apocalypse Anxiety: Democracy, Constitutional Scholars, and the Rise of the German Far Right after 2015 7. From Practical Critics to Hateful Malcontents: The Rise and Fall of the Online "Manosphere" Part IV The Ambiguities of a Concept 8. Forced to be Free? America's "Post-liberals" on Freedom and Liberty 9. Shine a Light or Burn it Down? Conspiracism and Liberal Ideas Part V Beyond Far-Right Newspeak 10. Against the Global Prison-Society: The Far Right's Language of the Opposition to the Great Reset 11. Hard Men, Hard Money, Hardening Right: Bitcoin, Peter Thiel, and Schmittian States of Exception Part VI Conclusion 12. Liberalism's Vulnerabilities and Two Paths for the Future