The Far-Right in the Longue Durée: Capitals, Ideology and State Formations

ADAM FABRY

Budapest

Seminario; The Rise of the Far-Right in a Longer Term Historical Perspective; 2016

Karl Polanyi Research Center for Global Social Studies y la revista 'Eszmélet'

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "Calibri";}@font-face { font-family: "Book Antiqua";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; }span.MsoFootnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }span.FootnoteTextChar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; }div.WordSection1 { }The re-emergence of the far-right inrecent years, from the Front Nationalin France, through the Jobbik partyin Hungary, to the Trump phenomenon in the United States, has been widelydiscussed in the media and the academia. While theinfluence of these parties, movements and its charismatic figures has been uneven,their general appearance across time and space suggests that the current era iscomparable to earlier historical conjunctures of far-right mobilization in thelate 19th century and inter-war periods. Attempts to theorise these political developments has beendominated by works from comparative politics and focused on ideologicaltaxonomies, comparative electoral performances, and the ability of far-rightparties to mobilise popular opposition to issues such as immigration, Europeanintegration, and neoliberal economic restructuring (cf. Caiani, Porta, and Wagemann 2012; Goodwin 2011;Mammone, Godin, and Jenkins 2012; Mudde 2007; Wodak, KhosraviNik, and Mral2013). Much of this literature hasadvanced the study of the far-right as a distinct contemporary strand ofpolitics within mature capitalist democracies, particularly through itsdissection and clarification of different national variations. However, the reliance on comparativemethodology, with its positivist and empiricist mode of enquiry grounded in amethodological nationalism has come at the cost of neglecting some importantaspects of the far-right. With this in mind, I seek to offer a critical readingon the far-right as a current of politics in the neoliberal era. Such a perspective providesboth a different understanding of generic far-right politics and acontextualized understanding of the significance of more recent manifestations,particularly within advanced capitalist societies in Europe and the UnitedStates. In order to achieve this, I draw on three distinct methodological andtheoretical positions: a.) a longue duréehistorical perspective; b.) an engagement with critical and historicalsociological positions, especially Marxist ones (Gramsci 1973; Trotsky 1972; Trotsky 1975; Trotsky 1977), to explain the far-right; andc.) an ontology of the far-right that emphasizes the international, in all itsvaried dimensions, as constitutive offar-right politics. <!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:"Book Antiqua";panose-1:2 4 6 2 5 3 5 3 3 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-size:10.0pt;mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;}@page WordSection1{size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;mso-header-margin:.5in;mso-footer-margin:.5in;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:Word