From national identity to national interest: The rise (and fall) of Germany's new right

Abstract

This article analyses the ideology of the so‐called German ‘New Right’ and explains its apparent failure in the 1990s in terms of both ideological and institutional factors. After dissecting the ‘conceptual anatomy’ of New Right thinking and highlighting the importance of rewriting the history of National Socialism for New Right intellectuals, it is argued that the phenomenon has to be understood against the background of various strands of conservative thinking in west Germany. Contrary to observers who have claimed an analogy with the 1920s ‘Conservative Revolution’, the New Right was akin to nationalist intellectuals in the Federal Republic, and suffered from the same structural dilemma which conservatism had encountered there. Its failure is attributed to a lack of ideological innovation, an excessive fixation on the 68ers as the ideological enemy, and, finally, a lack of party support. Conclusions about German political culture are then drawn from the failure of the New Right.