Graduation Year
2022
Date of Submission
4-2022
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE)
Reader 1
George Thomas
Reader 2
Jon Shields
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2022 Jensen O Steady
Abstract
Since Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, numerous conservative factions have attempted to fill the void and become dominant within the Republican Party. One of the most visible factions vying for power are the National Conservatives, but this movement has received little examination in academic literature due to its recent formation in 2019. Animated by a vision of nationalism based on historical tradition and the power of the state to push socially conservative goals, National Conservatism represents a distinct political movement that draws on various strands of existing conservative thought, although it does not clearly resemble any of them on its own. At the same time, National Conservatism’s international nature and its abstract theorizing leaves many tensions unresolved, especially the problem of determining which historical traditions count in forming nations. Overall, the political potential of National Conservatism appears limited based on current taxonomies and polling of Republican voters and the public at large. The structural advantages for Republicans in the American electoral system and the anxieties that National Conservatism focuses on, however, leave an opening for this or similar movements to gain hold. Creating an alternative framework that attends to Americans’ discontent with the liberal order is therefore a necessity.
Recommended Citation
Steady, Jensen, "America After Trump: The Rise of National Conservatism in the United States, Its Potential for Electoral Success, and the Future of the Republican Party" (2022). CMC Senior Theses. 2973.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2973
