School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemConservative radicals: Australian neoconservatism and its intellectual antecedents( 1989)This study charts the rise of Australian neoconservatism. With reference to a range of influences which coalesced in the journal Quadrant, it is argued that the genesis of a new intellectual conservatism had its origins in the decade of the 1950s, and that it has reached its culmination in the contemporary phenomenon of neoconservatism. Correspondingly, it is contended that recognition of this evolution reveals the longstanding inadequacies of depictions of 'the right' in this country, and the wider implications of this for Australian critique. A preliminary chapter discusses the shortcomings of conceptual approaches to the topic of Australian conservatism, and indicates the ways in which they are challenged by the neoconservative evolution. Part I considers the components of an informal alliance which crystallized in the 1950s, gravitated towards the journal Quadrant, and lay the foundations for a new conservatism. It is argued that despite their disparity, important common ground existed between a Jewish-European component of Australian society, a Catholic component, and a group influenced by Sydney philosopher John Anderson. A focus on founding Quadrant editor James McAuley completes this discussion of neoconservative antecedents, and highlights both the commonality and diversity of sources from which the new conservatism would emerge. Part II traces the evolution of neoconservative critique with reference to some of its central and recurrent themes. It is shown that neoconservative concerns were prefigured in the early Cold War period, and that these have been heightened and amplified in the light of ensuing developments. Such themes include the depiction of a 'new class' within society, and the rise of an 'adversary culture'; both of which were given impetus by developments of the 1960s. Exploration of the continuity and character of this evolving critique also underlines the inadequacy of critical approaches to it. In this way, it is shown that the emergence of Australian neoconservatism simultaneously demands reappraisal of the ways in which Australian intellectual traditions are conceptualized.