Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Studying the Right:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_29-2009_04_04.shtml#1238333806
The New York Times [1]reported this week on the creation of a new
research center at the University of California at Berkeley's
Institute for the Study of Social Change: the Center for the
Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements.
�This is unique,� said Paola Bacchetta, an associate professor at
Berkeley and an editor of the collection �Right-Wing Women: From
Conservatives to Extremists Around the World.� �There are no other
centers that I know of.�
Scheduled to open in the fall, the new center, which Lawrence
Rosenthal will oversee, is affiliated with Berkeley�s Institute for
the Study of Social Change. �Part of the motivation is that it is
an understudied area,� Mr. Rosenthal said. . . .
From which political direction the financing for this latest effort
is coming is masked. The donor�s request for anonymity may be more
to ward off requests for other contributions than for political
reasons. The donation, $777,000, is relatively small, but enough,
Mr. Rosenthal said, for the center to sponsor lectures, conferences
and colloquiums; offer fellowships for undergraduate and graduate
students; and publish papers.
The story claims that "little effort" has been made within the
conservative movement to study its on history. I don't think this is
true. In my experience, conservative institutions are intensely
interested in understanding their history and studying the
intellectual roots of their ideology. There are many books by
conservatives writers and historians examining the growth and
development of the conservative movement, most notably George H.
Nash's [2]The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since
1945. Among those sponsored by various conservative institutions are
Jeffrey Hart's [3]The Making of the American Conservative Mind, the
[4]American Conservatism encyclopedia, and Lee Edwards' [5]The
Conservative Revolution and [6]Bringing Justice to the People. And
then there are other recent works like Stephen Teles' [7]The Rise of
the Conservative Legal Movement, Ann Southworth's [8]Lawyers of the
Right, and Kim Phillips-Fein's [9]Invisible Hands: The Making of the
Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan, as well as recent
works on libertarianism, including Brian Doherty's [10]Radicals for
Capitalism and the [11]Encyclopedia of Libertarianism.
From the story, it seems the real niche the new Center will fill is
"comparative" studies of "right-wing" movements in various countries.
I am skeptical of such work, particularly insofar as it tries to draw
links between modern American conservatism and European fascism. The
mainstream American conservative movement is grounded in the classical
liberal tradition, and thus is quite distinct from "right-wing" or
"conservative" movements in many other places.
The story also compares this center to those that already exist
throughout academia to study left-wing political and social movements
(e.g. labor, feminism, etc.). What the story omits, however, is that
most academic efforts to study left-wing political movements are quite
overtly sympathetic to the subjects of their study, and are often as
engaged in activism as rigorous academic inquiry. It is unlikely the
same could be said here, however, as I doubt those at Berkeley's
Center will be particularly sympathetic to conservative and
libertarian movements, nor particularly eager to advance their cause.
References
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/export_html/common/new_article_post.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F03%2F26%2Fbooks%2F26righ.html&title=New%20Political%20Study%20Center%3F%20Turn%20Right%20at%20Berkeley&summary=The%20University%20of%20California%2C%20Berkeley%2C%20is%20creating%20a%20Center%20for%20the%20Comparative%20Study%20of%20Right-Wing%20Movements%2C%20a%20first%20of%20its%20kind%20in%20higher%20education.§ion=Books&pubdate=March%2026%2C%202009&byline=By%20PATRICIA%20COHEN
2.
http://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Intellectual-Movement-America/dp/188292620X
3.
http://www.isi.org/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=109927b6-3319-4cc2-a040-73d1bdd307e9
4.
http://www.isi.org/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=d5df2f81-f030-4b92-a945-77f33929f9f1
5. http://astore.amazon.com/heritagefoundationbookstore-20/detail/0684835002
6. http://astore.amazon.com/heritagefoundationbookstore-20/detail/0974366528
7.
http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Conservative-Legal-Movement-Princeton/dp/0691122083/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1238332312&sr=1-1
8.
http://www.amazon.com/Lawyers-Right-Professionalizing-Conservative-Coalition/dp/0226768341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238332885&sr=1-1
9.
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hands-Making-Conservative-Movement/dp/0393059308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238331603&sr=1-1
10.
http://www.amazon.com/Radicals-Capitalism-Freewheeling-American-Libertarian/dp/1586485725/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238333029&sr=1-2
11.
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Libertarianism-Ronald-Hamowy/dp/1412965802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238333094&sr=1-1
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