Conservatives Abroad

Can American conservatives learn something from the Brits?

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Robert Tyler, senior policy advisory for New Direction, joins Dispatch executive editor Adam O’Neal to sample the different flavors of the European right.

-America the good, America the bad
-Is Italy’s Meloni fascist?
-Fusionism and the Czech Republic
-Brexit and deregulation

Show Notes:

-Robert Tyler for The Dispatch

–About New Direction

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Comments (14)
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  1. Avatar photo
    SeanM76

    I loved this podcast. I would really like to hear what is going on with other parts of the world and conservatism.

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    Ben Connelly

    This was fantastic. Really interesting!

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  3. Nejcik

    Sure, of course there was a workable Brexit out there that all the Leave voters agreed on. It was Teresa May's fault she couldn't figure out what it was! Riiiiiiiight.

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    Gibby

    More content like this! I feel much smarter after listening to this!

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    Travis M

    I've enjoyed the various foreign focused interviews you guys have put out recently. Between the French protests, Taiwan situation, and this.

    Something on Africa or South America would be interesting next!

    For Africa, maybe see if you could get Vera Songwe, I heard her on Battlegrounds with H.R McMasters a few months ago and was pretty interesting.

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  6. Chuskins8

    Personally I was not familiar with Roger Scruton. Any recommendations regarding his published works?

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    Marc Frischhertz

    What’s with the effort to minimize the influence of Hungary? There is no European country more relevant to the current American claimed conservatives. Seems like a waste to have this guest and ignore Hungary.

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      Ben Connelly

      Adam multiple times said, “that minor country everybody seems to be talking about.” He meant Hungary. This was a podcast about conservatism in Europe. Not a podcast about anti-American, anti-West, pro-Russia, pro-China, nationalist-populism in Europe. Orban isn’t meaningfully right wing by a lot of dimensions but guys like Rod Dreher carry water for him and make people here think Hungary should be our model.

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        Marc Frischhertz

        I am aware, but Adam doesn't get to pick his own reality. Hungary and Orban are being boosted by more than just Rod Dreher. The entire populist right is boosting Orban. You and I may believe that neither Orban or Trump for that matter are true conservatives, but the fact remains that those calling themselves conservatives do. Hell CPAC had a conference and Tucker praises the guy as a model. So, to write it off not only as not true conservatism, but also insignificant, is not living in reality.

        As I said, to ignore Hungary in discussing current European conservatism is not reality based.

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          Ben Connelly

          Ok fine.

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    OJFL

    I liked this very much but I was left wanting. There are other developments "on the right" that need more exploring when it comes to Europe. The recent elections in Greece, for instance, where a more classical liberal government just won re-election after the disastrous administrations of Syriza, the leftist party in the country. Also unexplored was the recent electoral success of the right in Spain, where they gained lots of municipalities, which triggered a general elections plot by the leftist party PSOE. Also worth exploring in Spain is the downfall of Unidas Podemos, the splinter of the left in the country, that seems to be slowly disappearing. Also significant is the decline of Ciudadanos, who did very well in recent past elections, and is a libertarian-like party, and the remake of Vox, escaping their initial missteps of being a hardened rightist party, of a nationalist bent, and becoming more mainstream conservative. A fascinating figure to explore is the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, and how she is very popular but still has infighting within the Partido Popular. It would be good to explore recent moves to the right in Scandinavia, as well as the lingering problems within the French right after they had found their footing with François Fillon, and his fall from grace due to personal peccadillos that hobble the Les Républicains party to this day. I hope there is at least one more episode of this podcast for us to enjoy.

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      Sully

      At least with Spain, I mean you could do several hours of content there alone. But unfortunately probably best to wait until next week once we know how the 23J election turns out.

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  9. BSamuel

    Enjoyed this. If you have plans for future episodes, would love to learn about what’s happening in India. Seems to be one of, if not the, most consequential countries in the coming century.

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    Medwards

    Great episode. I would love more of this. Exploring an understanding of conservatism abroad helps illuminate the nature of conservatism in the US and in the Republican Party.

    I realize you were giving a brief overview of the Tories' performance in the last few years, however, I think you gave short shrift to what led to Boris Johnson's resignation. While he may have been successful in uniting the factions within his party, his lack of character and inability to be bound to the truth eventually caught up with him. There is, I believe, a lesson in that.

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