Palingenesis (social sciences)

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Palingenesis ('new birth', from Greek Παλίν palín- , German 'again' , and γένεσις génesis , German ' emergence ' , 'creation', 'birth'; English palingenesis ) is a term from various theories of fascism for a central element of fascism .

term

Emilio Gentile took over the term from theology , first in his work Le origini dell'ideologia fascista (1918–1925) . He understood it in terms of what is now known as the “ convergence theory ”. Roger Griffin defined the term more sharply as the objective of fascism, which aims at the "rebirth" of the " decadent society" through total alignment with a glorified leader . He saw this as the “mythical core of fascist ideology”.

Analysis of fascism

In fascist ideologues, the language is of a “revolutionary rebirth” of the “community” in a “new order” and in a “new era”. This means a (counter-) revolutionary endeavor of utopian ultra- nationalism . Palingenesis is striking for a certain type of cultural pessimism :

“[There] two types of cultural pessimism can be distinguished: the type who sees no way out and leads to despair, and the palingenetic variant, which sees the darkest night not as final and as a prelude to death, but cyclically as the announcement of a new dawn understands. Once transformed into the ideological fuel of a mass political movement, palingenetic cultural pessimism can unleash revolutionary energies to cleanse society from its internal decadence and corruption through systematic persecution and mass murder. This may seem 'nihilistic' to outsiders, and especially to the victims, but in the minds of the planners and actors the goal is to overcome nihilism and transform decadence into rebirth, an attitude that is reflected in Nietzsche's The Will to Power in 'active nihilism' Difference to "passive" is called. "

- Roger Griffin

Roger Griffin sees these endeavors as an ideal characteristic of all fascist ideologies, both in Nazism , among the thinkers of the Conservative Revolution and right-wing intellectuals and groups of the New Right such as Armin Mohler and Alain de Benoist .

In 1991 Griffin made the suggestion in The Nature of Fascism to define fascism as ideal-typical - in the sense of Max Weber . According to this, fascism could be described as a “genre of political ideology whose mythical core in its manifold permutations consists of a palingenetic form of populist ultra-nationalism”. Accordingly, Griffin defines fascism as a "palingenetic [n] ultra-nationalism". Griffin is against a definition of fascism that is limited to the era of National Socialism, and sparked a major controversial debate in international research.

With the generic definition of fascism in terms of its ideological core elements, which treats fascism as an ideology like other ideologies, Griffin pursues the goal of following the "insights into the changes in international fascism after 1945". In this way, he distinguishes himself from definitions of fascism that refer to a historical epoch:

“Since the definition aims at the ideological core instead of the concrete historical manifestations ( leader cult , paramilitarism , politics of the spectacle, etc.), in other words: because it treats fascism exactly like other generic political ideologies ( liberalism , socialism , conservatism ) It makes sense to regard a political phenomenon as fascist even if it only exists in the embryonic state in the head of an ideologist and without expression in a political party, let alone a mass movement. Furthermore, it may make sense to identify some form of political energy as fascist, even if it abandons the intention to operate as a party political and / or paramilitary force and instead follows an approach that has to do with political quietism rather than revolutionary fanaticism seems to have. Various people who were associated with the “ Conservative Revolution ”, for example Ernst Jünger and Martin Heidegger , could be classified as fascists because of their obsession with overcoming cultural and social decadence, although they only used the NSDAP temporarily as a vehicle for their realization looking at palingenetic fantasies. "

- Roger Griffin

In this definition of fascism, Griffin refers to the so-called “New Consensus” in fascism research, as formulated by Matthew Lyons : “Fascism is a form of right-wing extremist ideology that the nation or race as an organic community that transcends all other loyalties , glorified. He emphasizes a myth of national or racial rebirth after a period of decline or decay. "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ on this Sven Reichardt : New ways of comparative research on fascism. In: Mittelweg 36 1/2007
  2. ↑ Roger Griffin: Völkischer Nationalismus as a pioneer and continuer of fascism: An Anglo-Saxon view of a not only German phenomenon. In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn and Jobst Paul (eds.): Völkische Bande. Decadence and Rebirth - Analyzes of Right Ideology. Unrast Verlag, Münster 2005
  3. ^ A b Roger Griffin: Völkischer Nationalismus as a pioneer and continuator of fascism. An Anglo-Saxon view of a not only German phenomenon . In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn, Jobst Paul (eds.): Völkische Bande. Decadence and Rebirth - Analyzes of Right Ideology . Unrast, Münster 2005.
  4. ↑ Roger Griffin (2005): Völkischer Nationalismus as a pioneer and continuer of fascism: An Anglo-Saxon view of a not only German phenomenon. In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn and Jobst Paul, ed .: Völkische Bande. Decadence and Rebirth - Analyzes of Right Ideology . Münster: Restlessness. Pages 39, 40
  5. ^ Roger Griffin (1991): The Nature of Fascism . German Translation quoted from Alfred Schobert in: Rodger Griffin: The Controversial Concept of Fascism - Interview with Roger Griffin. In: DISS-Journal 13/2004
  6. ^ Roger Griffin, Werner Loh, Andresas Umland (2006): Fascism Past and Present, West and East. An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right. Ibidem publishing house.
  7. ^ Considering-Knowledge-Ethics (Issue 4/2004)
  8. ↑ Roger Griffin (2005): Völkischer Nationalismus as a pioneer and continuator of fascism
  9. ^ Matthew N. Lyons: What is Fascism? Some General Ideological Features . January 12, 2004; Translation by Alfred Schober. In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn, Jobst Paul (eds.): Völkische Bande. Decadence and rebirth. Münster 2006. Introduction
  10. ↑ cf. Matthew Lyons: What is Fascism? Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.diss-duisburg.de

literature

  • Roger Griffin (2005): Völkischer Nationalismus as a pioneer and continuer of fascism. In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn and Jobst Paul, ed .: Völkische Bande. Decadence and Rebirth - Analyzes of Right Ideology . Münster: Unrast Verlag . (Introduction: Online [1] )
  • Roger Griffin, Werner Loh, Andresas Umland (2006): Fascism Past and Present, West and East. An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right. Ibidem publishing house. (Review: Ralph Kummer, redok Ibidem Verlag Online: [2] ; PDF; 9 kB)
  • Roger Griffin (1998): Introduction. In: Roger Griffin (ed.), International Fascism. Theories, Causes and the New Consensus, London.
  • Roger Griffin (1991): The Nature of Fascism. London.
  • Roger Griffin (2002): 'The Palingenern Political Community: Rethinking the Legitimation of Totalitarian Regimes in Inter-War Europe'. In: Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 2/2 (2002), pages 24-43
  • Considering-Knowledge-Ethics (Issue 4/2004) [3]
  • Roger Griffin: The Controversial Concept of Fascism - Interview with Roger Griffin. In: DISS-Journal 13/2004 [4]
  • Matthew Lyons: What is Fascism? [5]
  • Matthew Lyons: What is Fascism? Some General Ideological Features. (Online at Publiceye.org [6] )

To the classification in fascism research

  • Emilio Gentile (1992): “Fascismo”. In: Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze. Lettere ed Arti. Rome. Pp. 196-199.
  • Richard Thurlow (1999): Fascism. Cambridge. P. 5f.
  • Walter Laqueur (1996): Fascism. Yesterday Today Tomorrow. Berlin. P. 19
  • Roger O. Paxton (2004): The Anatomy of Fascism. New York 2004. p. 21
  • Michael Mann (2004): Fascists. Cambridge 2004. pp. 12f.
  • Chip Berlet. (2004) Christian Identity: The Apocalyptic Style, Political Religion, Palingenesis and Neo-Fascism. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, Vol. 5, No. 3, (Winter), special issue on Fascism as a Totalitarian Movement.
  • Roger Eatwell (2003): Reflections on Fascism and Religion. In: Totalitarian Movements and Politics Religions. [7]
  • Matthew J. Goodwin: Grandpa's fascism and the New Kids on the Block: Contemporary. Approaches to the Dark Side of Europe. University of Bath [8]

Web links