Tomorrow, as part of ConservativeHome's summer programme we start our search for leaders of The Right.
But before that search begins I readily acknowledge that the term 'Right-wing' leaves a lot to be desired and means different things in different countries.
Satisfactory and unsatisfactory definitions that result from a flash internet search include...
- "Those who support political or social or economic conservatism;
- Those who believe that things are better left unchanged;
- In politics, right-wing, rightist and the Right are generally used to describe support for a stratified society to promote or preserve social order or traditional values;
- Describes a group or person that supports the existing social and political order or longs for a return to an earlier time;
- Orthodox, reactionary, conservative;
- In US politics, usually associated with the Republican Party, and supportive of laissez-faire economic policies and a robust military;
- The conservative and reactionary half of the political spectrum."
And my favourite:
- "Right-wingers include (in varying extremes) free-market capitalists, Nazis, religious theocrats, fascists, racists, nationalists, militarists, and certain Populists."
Being Right-wing is something that's easier to recognise that define. I also accept that Right-wing is a simplistic and sometimes inaccurate way of trying to capture much more interesting distinctions. More interesting distinctions including...
- Social conservatism versus social liberalism;
- Localism versus centralism;
- Radical versus gradualist;
- Foreign policy multilateralism (belief in working through the UN/EU) versus foreign policy maxilateralism (maximising co-operation of individual states on case-by-case bases);
- Fiscal conservatism (cut the deficit by cutting spending and raising taxes) versus growth hawkery (cut taxes to produce supply-side dynamism).