Prophet of doom and gloom

Those who can, do; but all too often they cannot resist pontificating as well. John Lukacs is a historian of Hungarian origins and conservative inclinations with a number of important if idiosyncratic books to his credit, including biographical studies of Churchill and Hitler. His aim in Democracy and Populism, however, is more far-reaching. He seeks to do nothing less than provide that ‘new science of politics’ for the ‘new world’ of democracy which Tocqueville called for over 150 years ago but which has not yet been forthcoming.

Lukacs believes that the old categories — socialist, liberal, conservative, even perhaps Left and Right — have lost their meaning. The real political conflict in the modern world is between two alternative variants of the Right — a populist and nationalist Right represented by George W. Bush, and a traditional conservative Right, which, taking its cue from Burke and Tocqueveille, retains a healthy suspicion of the popular will.

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