The New Authoritarians

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A bold thesis arguing that fascism is not the main enemy today – but a new and dangerous alliance of the right.

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Product ID: 5453 SKU: 9780745338156 Categories: , , Tags: ,

All across the world, right-wing politics is shifting, with conservative and hard-right proponents allying. From Donald Trump to Marine Le Pen, these figureheads agree on issues that would have been considered extreme to previous generations, causing many to label them as fascists.

But is this too simplistic? If they are not fascists, what are their politics?

In The New Authoritarians, David Renton approaches the problem from a new perspective. He identifies an emergent and deeply troubling form of right-wing radicalism, at once more moderate than classical fascism in its political strategy, yet indulgent of the racism of its most extreme components. In country after country, under the clouds of economic austerity and post-9/11 Islamophobia, the right is converging and strengthening. To understand why is the first step to stopping them.

 

Book details:
ISBN: 9780745338156
Publisher: Pluto Press
Author: David Renton
Published: April 2019
Format: paperback
size: 13 x 20 cm
Pages: 288

About the Author:
David Renton is a barrister, historian and anti-fascist activist. His previous books include The New Authoritarians: Convergence on the Right (Pluto, 2019).

Praise:

  • ‘A essential intervention that helps us understand the political shifts taking place on the right, and points a way for the left to halt an unfolding disaster’ – Dan Trilling, author of Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain’s Far Right
  • ‘A superior guide for understanding – and combating – right and far-right movements across the globe today’ – Bill Mullen, Campus Anti-Fascist Network
  • ‘Welcomed for its forensic attempt to identify what is genuinely new about ‘the new authoritarians’ – Neil Davidson, editor, The Longue Durée of the Far Right
  • ‘At a time when the international far right is ascendant Renton deftly explains the long terms factors behind its rise, lays out the true nature of the threat and importantly, offers some suggestions for what might be done to fight back’ – Joe Mulhall, Hope not Hate
  • ‘Renton is a stalwart of the anti-racist movement and his book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the changing nature of the right’ – Sasha Das Gupta, organiser, Momentum
  • ‘The best available account of today’s far right and how we can stop it’ – Elane Heffernan, Anti-Nazi League, 1992-2003
  • ‘Brilliant … required reading for the left’ – Truthout
  • ‘A convincing analysis of European and US conservatism’s recent shift rightwards, and makes clear why a retreat to centrist liberalism is no solution for those made anxious by this development. [It] offers a focused and systematic materialist history of the rise of today’s far right parties and leaders’ – TLS
  • ‘An important, new, analysis of this phenomenon that distinguishes this radicalised, racist right from more traditional versions of classic fascism’ – Philosophy Football
Weight 350 g