Abstract
It is certainly an ambitious enterprise to write a single volume book that provides a satisfactory account of the history of European conservative thought. Nevertheless, Francesco Giubilei has managed to write a book that is perceptive, lucid and germane and it should be read by both scholars and students of conservative thought. This book will also be of interest to those who study the history of ideas and the history of European politics. Giubilei is an Italian Professor at the University G. Fortunato of Benevento as well as a columnist and publisher. The History of European Conservative Thought was originally published in Italian and it has subsequently been translated into English by Rachel Stone.
The main aim of the book is to ‘highlight distinctions between conservatism and the other schools of thought’ (p. xiii). The distinctions were made betwixt conservatism, traditionalism, liberalism, reactionism and libertarianism. As conservatism and libertarianism are commonly confused with one another or even used in the American context as synonyms, the demarcation in the book is one of the main contributions to the conservative literature. Giubilei utilises a cultural lens rather than a purely political one. This means that the book does not analyse conservatism as a political practice or policies of conservative parties per se. The historical scope of The History of European Conservative Thought is from the French Revolution to the modern day and it covers over 90 conservative thinkers, including novelists, playwrights and poets. Eminent conservative thinkers such as G.K. Chesterton and Sir Roger Scruton as well as lesser known thinkers such as Ennio Flaiano and Giovanni Volpe are included in the book. As the core focus is on traditional conservatism, thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek and Alexis de Tocqueville are only drawn upon to demarcate the parameters of conservative thought by contrasting it with liberal thought.
In the conservative literature, according to Andrew Vincent, there have been three broad approaches to the study of conservatism. These are (1) the historical nation state, (2) chronological and (3) conceptual approaches. The History of European Conservative Thought has utilised all three approaches to varying degrees. The first section of the book takes a conceptual approach and is organised around the principles and historical origins of conservatism. This is a useful foundation and provides the theoretical framework for the book. It also aids the reader in understanding what conservatism is and what it is not, before moving onto a historical nation state approach. Nevertheless, the section does leave questions unanswered. For example, the question ‘is conservatism an ideology?’ is asked. Michael Oakeshott is drawn on to argue that conservatism is a disposition, Russell Kirk is utilised to argue that conservatism is not an ideology, but an anti-ideology and Robert Nisbet’s work is used to argue that conservatism is an ideology. The sketching of this debate provides the reader with a sound introduction to the various views of conservative scholars on this question, but the question is not explicitly answered by Giubilei himself. Therefore, the question is left open without a conclusion.
The second section of the book, which is the longest section, provides intellectual biographical portraits of conservative thinkers within their historical, national and supranational contexts. The portraits are based on a chronological timeline, and the events and debates of the time are sketched, which provides a beneficial contextualisation of conservative thought. There are chapters on British, German and Austrian, French, Spanish, American and Italian Conservatism. These chapters demonstrate that conservatism takes on different forms when it is embedded within different cultures and contexts. At least one fundamental principle of conservatism is apparent that has been held across cultures and contexts and that is the concept of the natural organic society. Nevertheless, Giubilei does not address a fundamental question: that is, is there one conservatism that has been applied differently or is there a heterogeneity of conservatisms? An overall conclusion that addressed this question as well as a discussion on how these conservatisms relate to one another would have strengthened the book.
The current conservative literature is dominated by Anglo-American thought and in more recent times by American conservative thought, while the book has a chapter on both British and American conservatism, the chapter on Italian conservatism is where the book adds most of its value to the current literature. Giuseppe Prezzolini believed that the main goal of conservatism is to exasperate change, but what if a conservative does not see any value worth conserving? Giubilei sets this question within the Italian context, which makes for a most interesting chapter. Indeed, the question is an important one for conservatives as they have been attached to a view of change that is slow and incremental, but what if they find the status quo intolerable? Giubilei’s chapter on Italian conservatism is the germination of the answers.
