Transcript [Company Name] - Chinese University of Hong Kong

US New Conservatism
Simon Shen
Old Conservatism
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Founder of Conservatism:
• Edmund Burke
• Tocqueville
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Vs French Revolution
Experimentalism Vs Rationality /
Populism
On Human Nature
On Class
On Tradition (Forward Vs Backward)
On Liberty (Absolute Vs Societal)
Old Conservatism in USA
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Conservative Tradition in the
American War of Independence
Foundation of USA: “Classical
Liberalism” = “European
Conservatism”
• Social Contract
• Private Property Rights
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Adam Smith Vs Thomas Jefferson
• Constitution Vs Bills of Rights
Conservatism
in the Economic Front
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Keynesian Economics / Welfare State
• Known as “Conservatism” in Europe
• Known as “Liberalism” in USA
• FDR New Deal
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Hayek and Conservatism Economics
• Vs Communism
• Vs Social Democracy
• Vs Welfare State
New Conservatism Since 1960s
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“Liberalism” in the USA after Cold War
•  New Leftists (mix with Stalinism,
Marxism, or Anarchism……)
•  Anti-Leftist Liberalists (+ The Jewish
Influence)
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The Goldwater Revolution
Michael Harrington Assigns the term
“New Conservatism” to the “traitors” of
Liberalism
New Conservatism allies with Old
Conservatism
The Tragedy of American
Compassion (Marvin Olasky)
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“Compassion” = Social Darwinism
The Poor People Lose their Ability of
Self-living and Self-strengthening
Welfare Bureau Replaces the SocioEconomic Function of Family (from
Class to Caste)
The Concept of Compassion Redefined
(Moral Guidance)
 Vs Social Security System =
“Compassionate Conservatism”
The Dream and the Nightmare
(Myron Magnet)
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The 60s Legacy to the Underclass
JFK: New Culture Movement
LBJ: The Grand Society
The Excess of Ultra-liberalism /
Collapse of the Value System
• Hippies, Family, Homosexuality, Abortion,
Drug Addiction
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 Need the God
Give Peace a Chance Lyrics
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Two, one, two, three, four
Ev'rybody's talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism,
Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Ev'rybody's talking about ministers, Sinister, Banisters And
canisters, Bishops, Fishops,
Rabbis, and Pop eyes, Bye, bye, bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Let me tell you now
Revoluton, evolution, masturbation, Flagellation, regulation,
integrations,
Meditations, United Nations, Congratulations
Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers,
Bobby Dylan, Tommy Copper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna
Destructive Generation (Peter
Collier)
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The “Dark Age”
• The 3 Assassinations
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From Civil Movement to Radical
Movement
• Malcolm X and the Black Panthers
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Fifth Columnists and the Red Menace
 Public Order, with Costs
Theodore Rex (Edmund Morris)
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Theodore Roosevelt as the “Pre-incarnated
Bush”
American Exceptionalism
Gunboat Policy / Carrot and Stick  Preemptive
Mahon’s Sea Power  Rumsfeld’s Aerial
Power
Global Military Redeployment
From Isolationism to Unilateralism
Essence of New Conservatism (I)
Continuity with Old Conservatism
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Individual Rights, Free Market
Further Promote Isaiah Berlin’s Positive Liberty
(individual’s ability to acquire resources)
Hayek Economy (Reagan Economy) ……
Liberty > Equality (Noblemen)
Individuality > Totalitarianism
(II) From the “Leftists”
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FDR’s New Deal
Welfare State, to a certain extent
Encroachment Vs Isaiah Berlin’s Negative
Liberty (individual’s ability to avoid
intervention by the social/ political
mechanism)
Mass Base / Civil Movement
Organization
“Permanent Revolution” Theory, Rightist
Version
New Inventions
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Christian Rights Movement
• Morality
• Ethics … towards the Liberalist Ideal
• Moral Absolutism Vs Relativism
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International Salvation
• Anti-Communism: Activism Vs Isolation
/ Engagement
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The Missionary Approach
• Forward Looking (Meliorism)
“Christian Right”
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“Christian Fundamentalism”
• Islamic and Jewish Fundamentalists
Revisited
• 1910-1915: “The Fundamentals”
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Pro-life: Vs Abortion; Bio-ethics
Family Values: Self-help; Vs
Homosexual
Religion from Private to Public Domain
• Education (e.g. “homeschooling”)
• Politics (e.g. Southern Evangelicalism)
• International Relations (e.g. PNAC)
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Moral Values according to the Bible
Francis Fukuyama
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Francis Fukuyama (1952—)
The “Oriental” Descendent
The Elitist Background:
• Cornell BA; Harvard PhD; John Hopkins Professor; RAND
Researcher; PNAC Member
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2 Types of “General Education” Genius Reassessed
“Historiography” / “Universalism”
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IPE + IR + Politics + History
+ Philosophy
+ Literature
+ Science
“the words sort of American undergraduate termpaper” Vs “the most important defense of liberal
democracy since John Rawl’s ‘A Theory of Justice’”
Hegel’s Dialectical History
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A Dialectical Process:
• A process through which the contradiction
between a dominant truth (thesis) and its
opposite (antithesis) are reconciled to
produce a higher truth (synthesis)
• Synthesis = a new Thesis Vs a new
Antithesis until all prior contradictions are
resolved and all human needs are satisfied
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History culminated in an absolute
moment – a moment in which a final,
rational form of society and state
became victorious”  “the End of
History”
Nature of the Contradiction
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Fukuyama: Ideological Consciousness (“the
real subject underlying the apparent jumble
of current events in the history of ideology”)
“Thymos” – man’s need for rational
recognition
• “Megalothymia” – the desire to be recognized as
better than others [Master]
• “Isothymia” – the human demand to be
recognized as equal rather than superior [Slave]
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The End of History Begins in 1806 (Battle of
Jena)
• (1) Capitalism satisfies man’s economic need of
ownership and material goods
• (2) Democracy abolishes the distinction between
master and slave
How Liberalism > Rivals
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Feudalism – Fell after 1806
Fascism – Fell after WWII
Marxism / Neo-Marxism – Fell after 1989
• The Dialectical Theory of Marxism
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Religion Fundamentalism / Nationalism /
Huntingtonianism – Not Universalism
Why is Liberalism “Imperialistic”?!
“The First Man”
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Anglo-Saxon Liberalism (Hobbes:
Leviathan) Vs German Liberalism (Hegel:
the Phenomenology of Mind)
The First Man in the Natural World
• Basic Instinct, Darwinism……
• German: “Megalothymia” [Master] and the
Progressive Nature
• Anglo-Saxon: “Isothymia” [Slave] and the
Protective Nature
“The Last Man”
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The last man emerges at this end point in
history, as liberal society grants recognition
and thus the satisfaction of the isothymia
The last man will inevitably find the life of
masterless slavery “boring”
Too much equality is dangerous for society,
as people will have nowhere to strive for
(classless society = complete victory of the
ethics of slaves)
The end of history has thus caused a
thymotic imbalance, in that megalothymia
has been oppressed and superseded by
isothymia
Deterrence of the Last Man
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It is important to avoid the
disintegration of liberalism by
ensuring that megalothymia can be
expressed
Economic: Entrepreneurship
Political: Democratic Competition
Social: Sportsmanship
International: ???
Two Visible Rivals
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The Fundamentalist Model
• Rejection to Capitalist Economy
• Failure to Revive their Tradition and Glory
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The East Asian Model
• Capitalist Economy
• Social Bonds that are strong enough to
withstand the fragmentary forces of liberal
democracy
• Trust: the Social Virtues and the Creation of
Prosperity (1995)
Fukuyama’s Acknowledged Fallacy
of the Theory of End of History
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10th Anniversary Article
Biotechnical Revolution Changes the Human
Nature (i.e. Ideological Consciousness, basis
of Fukuyama’s Dialect)
• Prozac: Vs Depression
• Ritalin: Vs Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder,
ADHD)
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Possible for Every “New Man” to Strive for
Megalothymia or Isothymia Only
•  Erase the Foundation of Liberalism
•  Other Modifications (e.g. Post-gender Era……)
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The Posthuman Future (2003)
The Worldview of Fukuyama
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The Rule of Liberal Democracy
Rational Expression of Megalothymia
Enemies:
• Vs Absolute Egalitarianism
• Vs East Asian Model / New
Authoritarianism
• Vs Revivalism / Fundamentalism
• Vs Biotechnical Revolution
Project for the New American
Century (1997)
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Chairman: William Kristol (boss: Murdoch)
Members:
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Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz
Dan Quayle
Jeb Bush
Steve Forbes
Ellen Bork
Francis Fukuyama, Charles Krauthammer
The 1998 Petition to Clinton
September 2000: Rebuilding America’s
Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources
for a New Century
Goals
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We need to increase defense spending significantly if we
are to carry out our global responsibilities today and
modernize our armed forces for the future;
We need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and
to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values
We need to promote the cause of political and economic
freedom abroad
We need to accept responsibility for America's unique
role in preserving and extending an international order
friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our
principles.
Unilateralism
• Vs Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty / Spatial Competition / Vs
Tokyo Treaty ……
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Kerry’s Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) [Soft Power Vs
Hard Power]
The Post-Cold War World Order
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Military Redeployment: New Bases /
from Europe to Asia-Pacific
Pre-emptivism and “Potential Threats”
• Iraq, Iran, Syria ……
• KSA
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Ineffective International
Multilateralism
• United Nations
• The Old Europe
The Making of New Order
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From USA to NSA?
• Washington DC as the Rome of New
Conservatism?
• USA Above Sovereignty of Others
• “Democratic Transition Office”
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The Greater Middle East Plan
• Capitalism
• Democracy
• “What Went Wrong”
• “Individualized Islam”
 “Secret” behind the (Abandoned) New
Iraqi Flag
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The Rise of the “New Europe” and the
Vilnius Letter
• The Seven-colored Revolution
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The Final Containment: Russia and China
Ideals and Rationales
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Such leadership requires military strength,
diplomatic energy and commitment to
moral principle
American leadership is good both for
America and for the world
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Dahl’s Democratic Peace Theory
Kindleberger’s Hegemonic Stability Theory
The Chosen Citizen Theory
Fukuyama’s the End of History Theory
References
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Olasky, Marvin. The Tragedy of American
Compassion. Washington: Regnery Gateway, 1992.
Magnet, Maron. The Dream and the Nightmare.
New York: W Morrow, 1993.
Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. New York:
Random House, 2001.
Collier, Peter and Horowitz, David. Destructive
Generation. New York: Free Press, 1996.
Collinicos, Alex. The New Mandarins of American
Power: the Bush Administration’s Plans for the
World. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.
References
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Fukuyama, Francis. Trust: the Social
Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity.
New York: Free Press, 1995.
Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History
and the Last Man. New York: Free Press,
1992. Chapter 4: The Worldwide Liberal
Revolution (P.39-54).
Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future:
Consequences of the Biotechnology
Revolution. New York: Picador, 2003.
Chapter 6: Why Should We Worry (P.84104).
THE END