ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a critical account of the online magazine-website, Quillette, in the context of an emergent twenty-first-century New Right political landscape. Where various national iterations of the New Right are themselves understood as intersectional with far-right political positions, particularly in their culturally and socio-economically exclusivist dimensions, the investigation considers how Quillette can be described as developing this terrain, especially by way of its writers’ stated interest in preserving and promoting a particular version of “classical liberalism.” For the purposes of this investigation, as we shall see, “classical liberalism” represents a broad school inspired by, among others, Adam Smith, David Hume, Friedrich Hayek, and right-wing libertarians such as Robert Nozick. Quillette writers’ appropriation and application of aspects of classical liberal thought are analyzed, including their critique of left-wing activism, commentary on Enlightenment philosophy and historical fascism, signposting of neoliberalism, and engagement with right-wing political influencers and their associated media. With attention to the increased expression of far-right reactionary views in more mainstream political venues, the discussion considers where the Quillette platform sits in relation to the transnational field of the New Right, including the exigencies and agencies of contemporary Australian, European, and United States New Right traditions respectively.
