conservatism in a poast-socialist country: the intellectual elite and the extreme right in romania

My paper focuses on the sensitive point of intersection between the far-right orthodox autochthonous conservative school of thought and the pluralist, European center-right Popular ideology in the case of the contemporary Romanian conservative intellectual elite. How this tension does shape the conservative discourse in contemporary Romania? This issue becomes especially relevant within the particular post-socialist political and ideological context of Romania. In the years following the 1989 Revolution, the Romanian the dominant discourse of the anticommunist intellectuals turned towards the right. Major figures, like Andrei Pleşu and Gabriel Liiceanu inspired an ideological turn towards an autochthonous conservative school of thought that originated in the 19th century and which reached a peak during the interwar period with the nationalist ideological strand that, amongst other things, inspired the far-right Legionar Movement. During that period a particular name comes to attention, that of Constantin Noica. Persecuted by the communist authorities, he managed to organize a small group of philosophers that will later be known as “the Păltiniş School”. Amongst the young people recruited were the above mentioned Pleşu and Liiceanu. After 1989 they embarked in a series of various projects that encouraged the emergence of a strong group of young right-wing orthodox conservative intellectuals currently associated with the Christian-democrat strand within the Romanian Popular movement. In order to reach my research goal, I will analyze the contemporary Romanian conservative discourse, mainly relying on published texts, interviews and opinion pieces of the most representative intellectuals of this ideological strand.