THE INTELLECTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ‘EUROPEAN NEW RIGHT’ AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY METE KURTO ĞLU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FEBRUARY 2009 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences ___________________ Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. __________________ Prof. Dr. Ra şit Kaya Head of Department That is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science ___________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Okyayuz Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr Mehmet Okyayuz (METU, ADM) __________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr Mehmet Yeti ş (AU, ADM) __________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Kür şad Ertu ğrul (METU, ADM) __________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: METE KURTO ĞLU Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE INTELLECTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE “EUROPEAN NEW RIGHT” AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION Kurto ğlu, Mete M. S., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Okyayuz February 2009, 88 pages This thesis aims to analyze the ideology of the “European New Right” (Nouveille Droite) and its attempt to establish its cultural hegemony on European integration. The revival of the radical right-wing parties after 1980s and the rise of xenophobia have emerged as a fundamental threat to European democracy. The study of such developments and the measures taken to combat right-wing extremism, however, should not be limited to political parties and activists. The intellectual framework of the contemporary radical right as a successor of historical fascism and its Europeanization necessitates a broader and deeper analysis of the ideology of the radical right. The case of “European New Right” as one of the most influential right-wing intellectual networks provides the appropriate ground to discuss on such framework and to elaborate its impact on European integration. Keywords: European New Right, European Integration, Cultural Hegemony, neo- Fascism iv ÖZ ‘AVRUPA YEN İ SA ĞI’NIN DÜ ŞÜNSEL ÇERÇEVES İ VE AVRUPA ENTEGRASYONU Kurto ğlu, Mete Yüksek Lisans, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Mehmet Okyayuz Şubat 2009, 88 sayfa Bu tez “Avrupa Yeni Sa ğı”nın (Nouveille Droite) ideolojisini ve Avrupa entegrasyonu üzerindeki kültürel hegemonya giri şimini incelemektedir. 1980 sonrasında radical sa ğ partilerin geri dönü şü ve yabancı dü şmalı ğındaki artı ş Avrupa demokrasisine temel bir tehdit olarak ortaya çıkmı ştır. Bu geli şmelerin teorik analizi ve a şırı sa ğa kar şı alınan önlemler siyasi partiler ve eylem grupları ile sınırlı olmamalıdır. Fa şizmin devamı olarak günümüz a şırı sa ğının entellektüel çerçevesi ve Avrupalıla şması, a şırı sa ğ ideolojinin daha geni ş ve derin şekilde ele alınmasını gerekli kılmaktadır. “Avrupa Yeni Sa ğı” en etkili sa ğ entellüktüel olu şumlardan biri olarak, belirtilen entellektüel çerçeveyi ve Avrupa entegrasyona etkisini tartı şmak için uygun zemini olu şturmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Avrupa Yeni Sa ğı, Avrupa Entegrasyonu, Kültürel Hegemonya, Neo-Fa şizm v To my family vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Okyayuz for his guidance, advice, criticism, encouragements and patience throughout this research. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ....................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iv ÖZ ........................................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ....................................................................................x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................1 2. THE RADICAL RIGHT IN GLOBAL ERA .....................................................4 2.1. The third wave of the radical right .............................................................4 2.2. Conditions favoring the third wave of the radical right ...............................4 2.3. Explaining the rise of the third wave of the radical right .............................5 2.4. The necessity for studying the ideology and Europeanization of the radical right ................................................................................................................12 3. THE DEVELOPMENT AND THE IDEOLOGY OF THE EUROPEAN NEW RIGHT................................................................................................................15 3.1. The development of the European New Right ...........................................15 3.1.1. Three ideological phases of the GRECE.............................................18 3.1.2. Intellectual roots of the European New Right ....................................21 3.2. The ideology of the European New Right..................................................27 3.2.1. The crisis and the end of modernity....................................................29 3.2.2. Anti-modernity and anti-Christianity..................................................31 3.2.3. Paganism versus monotheism.............................................................36 viii 3.2.4. Anti-liberalism ...................................................................................38 3.2.5. Identity politics ..................................................................................39 3.2.6. Anti-globalization ..............................................................................43 3.2.7. Nation-state, empire and federalism....................................................45 3.2.8. Representative democracy and organic democracy .............................47 3.2.9. The European New Right and the third wave of the radical right ........49 3.2.10. Fascism of the European New Right.................................................53 3.2.11. Ambiguities of the European New Right ..........................................55 4. THE EUROPEAN NEW RIGHT AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ..........59 4.1. Pan-Europeanism and European identity...................................................61 4.1.1. The EU and European identity............................................................61 4.1.2. The European New Right and European identity ................................63 4.1.3. European identity; does it exist, can it survive? ..................................66 4.2. The European New Right and the theories of the European integration .....68 4.3. European level right-wing organizations and the EU.................................71 4.4. Combating the threat from the radical right ...............................................73 5. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................75 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................81 ix LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ENR: European New Right EU: European Union FN: Front National MSI: Movimento Sociale Italiano ND: Nouveille Droite RRP: Radical Right-wing Party x CHAPTER 1 1. INTRODUCTION During the last decades European democracy has faced the revival of radical right movements as a forbidding threat to established democratic systems of the continent. The proofs of such threat are observed at the electoral success of the radical right-wing parties in many European countries, various examples of xenophobic violence and intellectual networks that aim to sustain a legitimate ground for the radical right ideology. Despite the fact that radical right-wing parties have not gained governmental power in any European country, the comparison between the situation after 1980s and the development of the membership and the vote for fascist parties after World War I should warn us against the possible danger (von Beyme 1988). Considering the so-called social-democratic consensus and political stability achieved in post-war Europe with the welfare state model, revival of radical right in Europe as a threat to such consensus, gained special attention both from the European politicians and the academics working in the field especially after 1990’s. Now, there is a rich literature on explaining the recent rise of radical/extreme right 1 in European countries which is taken as the ‘third wave of the radical right’ with response to the first wave around 1960s and the second wave in 1970s. Originating from the study of historical fascism, ‘neo-fascism’ has been popularly used to conceptualize