Radicalised Conservatism

The crisis of social democracy is being talked about everywhere. But many traditional centre-right parties are also in decline or at least find themselves in a predicament: should they open up to progressive urban milieus? Or would they rather sharpen their conservative profile? While Angela Merkel stands for the one model, politicians like Donald Trump or Sebastian Kurz represent the other. They are representatives of a radicalised conservatism.

Natascha Strobl analyses their rhetorical and political strategies. She shows how they use resentment to mobilise their supporters or create their own narratives to exercise »message control« and dismiss criticism as fake news. Instead of substantive debate, they seek confrontation. In their own parties, they reduce democracy, rely on small circles of advisors and personalisation. In doing so, according to Strobl, they repeatedly resort to the methods of radical right-wing movements and organisations.

»Natascha Strobl dissects ›radicalised conservatism‹, which has become difficult to distinguish from right-wing extremism.« Robert Misik, taz. die tageszeitung

»Indeed, for long stretches Strobl's analysis reads like the political present captured between the covers of a book ...« Rafaela Roth, NZZ am Sonntag

»The book provides a good overview of the modus operandi of a new, more extreme conservatism. The way the elected heads of government Trump and Kurz try to systematically infiltrate or undermine the state and the media in order to expand their powers is broken down in detail. In the process, contemporary-intuitive observations are expanded to include a structural solution.« Hans Peter Schunk, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

»A snappy analysis of the conservative major-parties’ flirtation with the New Right and of a ›raw bourgeoisie‹.« Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, Handelsblatt

»Author and activist Natascha Strobl presented the political bestseller of the season with her analysis of right-wing extremist strategies in bourgeois parties – and the theses of the hour with her assessment of the Kurz system.« Sebastian Hofer, profil

»The copy-paste patterns of behaviour exhibited by radicalised conservatives are astounding in a deeply negative sense, so it is all the more remarkable that Natascha Strobl nevertheless succeeds in relentlessly unpacking the entire toolbox in 150 pages and analysing each of the rhetorical and ideological weapons they use.« Nadja Kwapll, an.schläge

»Precise, entertaining, convincing. Natascha Strobl's book is both a scientific analysis and a political essay: insightful and rousing.« Sebastian Friedrich, NDR Kultur