Global InformationNeoconservatism information
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Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s during the Vietnam War among foreign policy hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s. Neoconservatives typically advocate the unilateral promotion of democracy and interventionism in international affairs, grounded in a militaristic and realist philosophy of "peace through strength." They are known for espousing opposition to communism and political radicalism.[1][2]
Many adherents of neoconservatism became politically influential during the Republican presidential administrations of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, peaking in influence during the administration of George W. Bush, when they played a major role in promoting and planning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prominent neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration included Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, Paul Bremer, and Douglas Feith.
Although U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had not self-identified as neoconservatives, they worked closely alongside neoconservative officials in designing key aspects of George W. Bush's foreign policy; especially in their support of Israel, promotion of American influence in the Arab World and launching the "War on Terror".[3] Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies were heavily influenced by major ideologues affiliated with neo-conservatism, such as Bernard Lewis, Lulu Schwartz, Richard and Daniel Pipes, David Horowitz, Robert Kagan, etc.[4]
Critics of neoconservatism have used the term to describe foreign policy and war hawks who support aggressive militarism or neo-imperialism. Historically speaking, the term neoconservative refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism during the 1960s and 1970s.[5] The movement had its intellectual roots in the magazine Commentary, edited by Norman Podhoretz.[6] They spoke out against the New Left, and in that way helped define the movement.[7][8]
- ^ Dagger, Richard. "Neoconservatism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
- ^ "Neoconservative". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
- ^ Record, Jeffrey (2010). Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 47–50. ISBN 978-1-59797-590-2. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
- ^ Abrams, Nathan (2010). "Introduction". Norman Podhoretz and Commentary Magazine: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4411-0968-2.
- ^ Vaïsse, Justin (2010). Neoconservatism: The biography of a movement. Harvard University Press. pp. 6–11.
- ^ Balint, Benjamin (2010). "Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine that Transformed the Jewish Left Into the Neoconservative Right". PublicAffairs.
- ^ Beckerman, Gal (6 January 2006). "The Neoconservatism Persuasion". The Forward.
- ^ Friedman, Murray (2005). The Neoconservative Revolution Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.