Towards an European Neo-Conservatism? From the Formation of an Economy of Authenticity to the Renewal of Nationalist Ideologies

The implementation of neo-liberal policies in Europe, and their devastating results, have triggered, during the last ten years, numerous critical reactions, particularly in the intellectual and political fields. But this renewal of social critique has not yet had any concrete effect on the actions of the power elite, belonging to the left as well as to the right, whose members use the argument of “necessity” to justify their conservatism. On the other side, the critical stance has had only very weak support from the social movements and, particularly, the labor Unions, whose energies are absorbed by their efforts to survive. In the vacuum created by a demoralized Europe and by an ineffective social critique, there have emerged ideologies, coming from the extreme right and even, sometimes, from the left, that have shifted from the critique of economical neo-liberalism to the critique of political liberalism. They stress nationalism, supported by a strong State, and on the valorization of moral authority and tradition. They are, above all, strongly xenophobic and racist.

This neo-conservatism is conditioned by socio-economic changes whose precise analysis seems particularly urgent. The first and most visible change is the decline of industry, which dismantles an “old” proletariat given over to unemployment and precariousness. The second change, is the development of new economic forms which create wealth by exploiting the patrimonialization of sites or “terroirs” whose “authentic” character is distorted by forms of commodification and/or through the extension of cultural industries of luxury brands. These two economic processes have political effects that promote reactionary and xenophobic positions. Groups and social classes whose interests are linked with industry accuse “foreigners” of “robbing” the work of the “real” French people. Groups and social classes involved in the process of patrimonialization accuse “foreigners” of polluting “authentic”, “ancestral” and national places and values.