Towards a Research Programme of the European New Right

Nikolay Pavlov

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Background and Rationale

For many decades the development of European science has been considerably hindered by political correctness and liberal normative assumptions. The present dominion of left-wing social constructs and anti-nationalist fictions in the European academia to great extent limits the horizon of European science. Political independence and impartiality of the research process have been fully superseded by obedience to the dominant left-wing discourse, especially in the social sciences. As evidenced by multiple cases of ‘Thought Police’ repressions against academics in recent years the fundamental right to freedom of opinion and expression in the European academia has shrunk to a record low. These negative processes in the European Research Area are exacerbated both at the European Union and Member States level.

 

The twilight of European science has devastating effects on European men and women in spiritual terms. As demonstrated by Goethe in “Faust” the internal dialectics of the European quest for infinite knowledge is framed by a very specific contract between Dr. Faust and Mephistopheles. Knowledge is costly and it has a complex relationship with the forces of darkness. Science is a modern representation of traditional spiritual practices commonly known as magic. In the present conditions the inborn Faustian drive of European men and women towards exploration, adventure, science, and technology has been largely frustrated and suppressed. The hegemony of left-wing pseudo-science in European academia infringes upon the Europeans’ fundamental right to knowledge – an infringement which is not acceptable, especially in the context of the great European tradition in science and technology.

 

Throughout history science and technology have always had ideological and meta-political implications. They have played significant and decisive role in war and peace. Science has been weaponized many times by left-wing and globalist forces. The Marxist-Leninist pretence of ‘scientific communism’ has been further developed by the Frankfurt School of social theory in the concept of Cultural Marxism.1 The ongoing hybrid war for the hearts and souls of Europeans rages violently on all fronts possible, including on the scientific front. A very wide array of weaponry – information and psychological ops, black propaganda, media ops, meta-political, ideological, and even spiritual tools – are being employed to harness the nations of Europe. Tens of millions of Europeans supporting nationalist and patriotic parties are hatefully labeled ‘internal enemies’2 and ‘anti-Europeans’3. In this context it is of vital importance to strengthen the scientific front of the European New Right (ENR) – which is the main present-day European nationalism-oriented intellectual movement – in order to have an edge in the ongoing meta-political clash of ideas. As the Latin aphorism attributed to Sir Francis Bacon goes, ‘scientia potentia est’ (knowledge is power). Hence, the power struggle for the future of Europe demands the development of effective scientific capabilities of the European New Right. Moreover, the Right with its specifically moral dimension is the natural friend of science as the expression of the will to truth.4

 

At present European nationalism does not have a fully elaborated and solid conceptual basis in academic terms. The most scientifically advanced works have been developed by the intellectual movement which is known – not entirely accurately – as the European New Right or Nouvelle Droite.5 Deeply engrained in the French philosophical tradition this movement has contributed significantly to the development of contemporary European nationalism at the theoretical level. Alain de Benoist, the founder and leading thinker of the French “New Right” has redefined the Right in post-war Europe, and ultimately transcended the Left/Right divide altogether in his effort to oppose and surpass liberalism. However, the practical policy implications of Nouvelle Droite have been limited and until recently most of its seminal works have been accessible only to the French-speaking audience. Various aspects of the European New Right agenda have also been explored by individual scholars – dissident academics or independent researchers – but given the lack of funding these research efforts have been neither sufficiently systematic nor sustainable. The dominant leftist and liberal discourse in European academia and, specifically in the social sciences practically left no room for conservative thinkers or right-wing scholars. Small wonder that in this dire state the rising European right-wing nationalist and patriotic parties have no adequate scientific support for developing and pursuing research-based policies at the European level. In many cases policy solutions are chaotically drawn upon obsolete concepts and approaches which have been painfully proven wrong and self-destructive for the European nations and for Europe as a whole.

Scientific Objectives of the Research Programme

There is a pressing need for developing a tailor-made Research Programme of the European New Right at the European level. In line with the principle of sovereignty the Research Programme should be drafted and implemented with due care for the needs and requirements of all European nations. The procedures for defining national requirements could involve measures like online surveys, consultations with nationalist and patriotic party representatives, representatives of informal nationalist organizations and dedicated policy forums.

 

The principal objectives of the Research Programme could be defined as follows:

 

Scientific Objective no.1: Consolidating and strengthening the research and intellectual tradition of European nationalism. This objective will be achieved by fundamental research on European nationalism in the fields of philosophy, history of ideas, conceptual history and political science. The main result will be a state-of-the-art coherent and conceptually sound doctrine of European nationalism. The expected impact is enhancing the scientific credibility of European nationalism and widening its appeal to European citizens.

 

Scientific Objective no.2: Provision of scientific support to the European nationalist and patriotic parties in the process of defining, promoting and implementing research- and evidence-based policies at the European level. This objective will be attained by policy-relevant research which will be structured along policy areas (e.g. security policy, industrial policy, culture policy etc.). The expected impact is strengthening right-wing competences in various policy areas and prospective infiltration in the respective EU or Member States public authorities.

 

Scientific Objective no.3: Enhancing the research capabilities of European researchers and organizations in specific priority areas for the European New Right. This objective will be achieved by capability-development projects in specific priority areas such as migration, remigration, population replacement, Islamization etc. The expected impacts are increased research capabilities and specialization of right-wing researchers and organizations in highly complex and sensitive topics which will be on the EU agenda for many years to come.

 

Scientific Objective no.4: Provision of scientific support for the development of a comprehensive and coherent Strategic vision of the European New Right for a United Europe of nations as an alternative to the present-day European Union. The Strategic vision must provide the conceptual framework, the geostrategic objectives, the institutional architecture and the policy areas of this alternative, nationalistic Pan-European project. The expected policy impact is increased policy credibility and positive image of the European New Right as a constructive pro-European movement which has the ambition to overhaul the EU system for the good of European nations.

 

In the initial phase the Research Programme will be focused on the social sciences but in the future some of the research topics could be more technology-oriented in line with the global trends in research, innovation and technology development.

Research Topics in the Preparatory Action

The research topics will be defined to contribute to the achievement of the scientific objectives. The Research Programme will be implemented by Annual Work Programmes comprising a set of research topics for the respective year. The Work Programmes will be made public by open Calls setting out the research topics, conditions, eligibility requirements etc. The applicants will prepare and submit project proposals which will be evaluated with the support of independent experts. Each project proposal will be evaluated against three main criteria: scientific excellence; policy impact; and quality and efficiency of the implementation. Only high-quality right-wing science should be funded. In procedural and technological terms – Calls for proposals, evaluation and monitoring procedures – the Research Programme could make use of the experience from the multi-billion EU Research and Innovation programmes (Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe).6 Enhanced project management culture in the European New Right would be one of the spin-offs from the proposed Research Programme. In the first year it is advisable that a Preparatory Action for the Research Programme (PARP) with a limited number of topics will be launched to test the procedures and the organizational architecture. As an example, the research topics in the Preparatory Action could be, as follows:

 

Topic 1.1 Rethinking the role of national sovereignty in the development of ‘Europe of Nations’ in the XXI century. The project under this topic should explore the philosophical and historical aspects of the national sovereignty concept as a core nationalist concept in Europe. The conceptual link between national sovereignty and the right to national resistance must be investigated. Novel approaches to the issue of national sovereignty should be defined. The transformation of national sovereignty into European sovereignty should be critically analyzed from the perspective of the evolving European nationalism of the XXI century.

 

Topic 2.1 Developing a conceptual framework for the European Security and Defence Policy from the perspective of the ‘European New Right’. The project under this topic will prepare a conceptual framework for one of the most underdeveloped EU policy areas – the Common Security and Defence Policy. The state-of-the-art research in this area has been limited to the left-wing notions of the EU as a ‘civilian power’ and ‘liberal power’. The project must formulate a Realist conceptual framework for European security and defence in the context of the wider ‘Europe of nations’ concept. Research is expected to advance theoretical and practical knowledge on European Defence in Realist and nationalist terms.

 

Topic 3.1 Developing measures and capabilities for countering left-wing extremism and radicalization at the European level. The project under this topic must take stock of the current state of left-wing extremism and radicalization in Europe from a security perspective. The major left-wing extremist organizations and networks must be identified and mapped. Risk analysis of the most violent groups should be carried out and policy recommendations for countering left-wing extremism and radicalization at the European level should be laid down.

 

Topic 4.1 Defining the geopolitical interests of ‘Europe of nations’ on the basis of public perception studies. The project under this topic should carry out public opinion surveys in EU Member States to define the public perceptions with regard to major geopolitical actors such as the U.S., Russia and China. In line with the ‘local turn’ in the social sciences the project should define alternative geopolitical models of the future ‘Europe of nations’ correlated with the results from the public opinion surveys. The ideational pillars of the new geopolitical order of ‘Europe of nations’ must be elaborated.

 

It is expected that each of the abovementioned collaborative research projects funded under the respective topic will have total costs of approximately 300 000 EUR and duration between 12 and 18 months. Only one project per topic will be funded based on the evaluation scores received. All projects must implement activities for the dissemination and communication of the research results, including by means of peer-reviewed articles. In the Preparatory Action for the Research Programme only collaborative research projects will be funded. In case the Preparatory Action proves to be a success story three types of projects will be funded by the Research Programme in the future, as follows:

 

  •  Collaborative research projects – research projects involving participants from at least 3 EU Member States. Project activities will entail desktop and field research activities, international research conferences and scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals. The research activities must be organized under Work packages.
  •  Research workshops – small-scale projects for the organization of a workshop on a specific topic from the Work programme with the involvement of participants from at least 7 EU Member States plus at least one participant from the U.S. The major project result will be workshop proceedings.
  •  Individual projects on one specific topic in the Work programme awarded to young right-wing researchers in the form of scholarships. Hence, the Research Programme would have tangible policy impact by both strengthening the scientific foundations of the European New Right and supporting the development of the Europeans of the future, those ‘good Europeans’ prophesied by Nietzsche in ‘Beyond Good and Evil’.7

Organizational Aspects

The management of the Research Programme should be entitled to an independent non-political organization to ensure the impartiality of the peer-review and evaluation process and, respectively, credibility of the research. Good example in terms of management of specific research programmes are ‘Open Society’ Foundations (OSF) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG). Of course, the proposed Research Programme’s scale and management structure should be tailored for the specific needs and the capacity of an unstructured movement as the European New Right to run effectively such a programme. As the proposed Research Programme is situated in the crossover area between ‘pure science’ and metapolitics it deserves a management structure that is politically neutral, yet ideationally affiliated with the European New Right. Direct political control would hamper the academic freedom and credibility of research projects. In this respect the lessons learned from the unsuccessful bid of former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon for establishing a ‘clearing house’ called The Movement must be taken into account.8 Aiming at supporting right-wing “populist” parties in 2019 European Parliamentary elections the ambitious initiative had direct political objectives which is not appropriate for a metapolitical venture. The tacit objective of The Movement to coordinate European nationalist parties’ campaigns quite naturally was met with resistance from these parties and unwillingness to take part in what many perceived as an attempt for imposing American influence. And finally, The Movement failed to demonstrate adequate local ownership by legitimate European political actors.

 

Presently, there does not exist an organization on the European nationalist scene which has the capabilities needed to manage the proposed ‘Research Programme of the European New Right’. Here are some of the requirements which have to be fulfilled for such a role. The organization should be politically independent, yet ideologically closely linked with the European New Right. It should be able to promote and maintain fruitful international cooperation between nationalists from different European homelands and to develop an international research network. Only a modern and business-minded leadership could provide the organizational setup for launching and managing a prospective Research Programme of the European New Right.

 

As proven by the examples of OSF and DFG the most suitable legal structure for implementing the Research Programme is a charity (not-for-profit organization) and more specifically a foundation. After a detailed comparative legal, tax and political analysis the European New Right Research Promotion Foundation should be established as a fully independent legal entity in one of the EU Member States. The ENR Research Promotion Foundation should be established in close cooperation with nationalist and patriotic political parties able to win seats in the 2024 European Parliament elections. This will provide legitimacy, political support and eventually financial resources needed for the ambitious research and policy initiative. Without political support the launch and implementation of the Research Programme is hardly achievable. At the same time direct political control should be avoided as it will taint the research process and would not be easily accepted by the best European researchers. As a rule, high-quality researchers look down on professional politicians and would not be willing to work directly under the control of political parties. In this train of thought representatives of European nationalist and patriotic parties could form an Advisory Board as part of the management structure of the Foundation but should not be part of the Governing Council. The Foundation will act as intermediary between the research and policy domains.

 

As a first step contacts with nationalist and patriotic parties and political groups in the new EU Parliament should be sought immediately after the June 2024 elections. Cooperation with the political parties and groups will be mutually beneficial. The Research Programme will provide science-driven policy recommendations and the political groups in the European Parliament could provide legitimacy and financial support for the implementation of the Programme. The proposed Research Programme will raise the international profile and demonstrate the maturity of the European New Right. Science is a smart weapon for European nationalism which has been underestimated so far.

 

After the establishment of the ENR Research Promotion Foundation the idea for the Research Programme should be officially launched and widely promoted. The main objective of the promotion campaign would be fund-raising for the Research Programme from private donors and stakeholders. The establishment of the Foundation and the implementation of the Research Programme will contribute to the development of a common research area of the European New Right and will have great policy impact.

Endnotes:

1 On the unscientific nature of the Frankfurt School, see: Kevin MacDonald, The Culture of Critique, Praeger, 1998.

2 George Soros, The EU looks like The Soviet Union in 1991 – on the verge of collapse, The Guardian 12/02/2019.

3 Susi Dennison and Pawel Zerka, The 2019 European Election: How Anti-Europeans plan to wreck Europe and what can be done to stop it, European Council on Foreign Relations, Feb. 2019.

4 John Bruce Leonard, Science: the Lesser Sphere, Arktos Journal, Nov.2018

5 On the ENR see: Tomislav Sunic, Against Democracy and Equality: The European New Right, Arktos Media Ltd, 2011.

6 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en

7 Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Dover Publications Inc. 1997, Ch.VIII.

8 Steve Bannon’s far-right Europe operation undermined by election laws, The Guardian 21/11/2018.