https://www.academia.edu/146208431/Critique_of_NeoConservatism
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Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642
Abstract
This essay presents a comprehensive critique of NeoConservatism, analysing it as a complex intellectual and political movement that emerged from the “Radical Turn” of former liberals “mugged by reality”. Section one examines the profound definitional instability of the term, noting how its proponents often oscillate between “liberal” and “conservative” identities while constructing a “conservative welfare state” that defies traditional binaries. Section two provides a systematic summary of the movement’s “go”fathers” and “second-generation” architects—including Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Michael Novak—highlighting their focus on assertive foreign policy, moral clarity, and the theological defence of democratic capitalism. Finally, the third section outlines a humanistic methodology for resisting neoconservative sociological propaganda. By utilizing Spiral Historiography, the POLICE model, and personal integrity, individuals can avoid the “discontinuous personality” of the post-truth era and reclaim human authorship from the “coldness of calculation” inherent in technocratic neoconservatism.
List of Tags
- Critique
- Neoconservatism
- Bernard Williams
- Bernard Stiegler
- Nel Noddings
- Political Theory
- Thinking
- Cognition
- Political Theory
- Political Communication
- Brisbane
- Queensland
- Appearance
- Foolishness
- Truthfulness
- Value
- Focus
- Exclusion
- Inclusion
- Paid Work
Featured Image: The earliest days of liberal, conservative, and neoconservative thought in Queensland. Talking cross-purposes. Figure-15.-Charles-Ringma-and-the-Conservative-Liberal-Community-Connections-circa-1983.-Source-Teen-Challenge-Inc.-Qld.jpg

Neville Buch
Latest posts by Neville Buch (see all)
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- The Human Being Above the Transaction and Why Markets Cannot Measure Human Worth – October 15, 2026
