ABSTRACT

This book explores the emergence, and in Poland, Hungary, and Russia the coming to power, of politicians and political parties rejecting the consensus around market reforms, democratization, and rule of law that has characterized moves toward an "open society" from the 1990s. It discusses how over the last decade these political actors, together with various think tanks, intellectual circles, and religious actors, have increasingly presented themselves as "conservatives," and outlines how these actors are developing a new local brand of conservatism as a full-fledged ideology that counters the perceived liberal overemphasis on individual rights and freedom, and differs from the ideology of the established, present-day conservative parties of Western Europe. Overall, the book argues that the "renaissance of conservatism" in these countries represents variations on a new, illiberal conservatism that aims to re-establish a strong state sovereignty defining and pursuing a national path of development.

chapter 1|22 pages

Introduction

Toward a new illiberal conservatism in Russia and East Central Europe

part I|2 pages

Genealogies

part II|1 pages

Translations

chapter 9|20 pages

The “Budapest–Warsaw Express”

Conservatism and the diffusion of economic policies in Poland and Hungary

chapter 11|22 pages

“Traditional values” unleashed

The ultraconservative influence on Russian family policy

chapter 12|15 pages

Religious conservatism in post-Soviet Russia and its relation to politics

Empirical findings from ethnographic fieldwork

chapter 13|20 pages

Ready for diffusion?

Russia’s “cultural turn” and the post-Soviet space