movement—especially sexual liberation and the counter-culture of an alter-
native society. It fears the destruction of the family and in this respect its
arguments coincide with those of thenew rightgroups such as theMoral
Majoritywhich became active in American politics in the 1970s.
Finally, neo-conservatism is hostile to utopias and to attempts to promote
broad visions of equality. It is wedded to the notion ofequality of oppor-
tunityand as a consequence has opposed such policies asaffirmative action
and quotas.
The neo-conservative movement changed the intellectual climate of the
USA and provided a justification and explanation of trends which were already
apparent in its politics. Although its impulses mesh well with those of other
forces on the American right, including the new right and theRepublican
Party, it is, however, a distinct tendency and not to be confused with them.
Ultimately, however, it had little influence on the administrations of Reagan
and the elder Bush because the rightwards swing in the American electorate
proved to be very much more a matter of basic economic rationality than of
any theoretical disillusionment with liberalism. Furthermore the decline and
eventual collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union deprived neo-conservatives of their favourite target. Its views regained
a certain amount of support during the Clinton presidency, when the admin-
istration’s policies were diametrically opposed to the neo-conservatives’ aims,
and questions as to Clinton’s fitness for office amid allegations of sexual and
financial impropriety brought the debate onto their territory. George W. Bush
has frequently been seen as heavily influenced by neo-conservatism, and his
first budget contained significant reductions in taxation and government
spending on perceived ‘liberal’ projects.
Neo-Corporatism
Neo-corporatism is a political theory created in the 1970s as part of a radical
critique of the nature of the state in capitalist societies, though some of its ideas
would be accepted by less than radical political scientists. The ‘neo’ in the title
is there simply to distinguish it from thecorporatisttheories of inter-war
Europeanfascism, and is sometimes omitted. The essence of the theory is that
major industrial institutions, and especiallymultinationalfirms, have now
entered into a very close alliance with the state, especially with the civil service.
Instead of the state controlling and organizing industry as though the corpora-
tions were passive, they are seen as being necessary partners. Thus economic
and industrial policy is worked out, according to this theory, jointly between
industrial institutions and the civil service. Part of the explanation for this move
is that the control of information and technical expertise needed for regulating
industry is only available to civil services from the corporations themselves. To
Neo-Corporatism