Neoconservatism: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''Neoconservatism''' is a [[political movement]] that began in the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]] ~~during~~in the 1960s during the [[Vietnam War]] among foreign policy [[liberal hawk|hawk]]s who became disenchanted with the increasingly [[Pacifism|pacifist]] [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and with the growing [[New Left]] and [[counterculture of the 1960s]]. Neoconservatives typically advocate the [[Unilateralism|unilateral]] promotion of [[democracy]] and [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionism]] in [[International relations|international affairs]], ~~grounded~~together inwith a [[Militarism|militaristic]] and [[realism (international relations)|realist]] philosophy of "[[peace through strength]].". They are known for espousing opposition to [[communism]] and [[Radical politics|political radicalism]].<ref name="britannica">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/neoconservatism|title=Neoconservatism|last=Dagger|first=Richard|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=16 May 2016|archive-date=31 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531190807/https://www.britannica.com/topic/neoconservatism|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="merriam-webster">{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neoconservative|title=Neoconservative|website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary|access-date=11 November 2012|archive-date=25 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925214021/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neoconservative|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many adherents of neoconservatism became politically influential during the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] presidential administrations of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, peaking in influence during the administration of [[George W. Bush]], when they played a major role in promoting and planning the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]. Prominent neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration included [[Paul Wolfowitz]], [[Elliott Abrams]], [[Richard Perle]], [[Paul Bremer]], and [[Douglas Feith]].

Although U.S. Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] and Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] had not self-identified as neoconservatives, they worked closely alongside neoconservative officials in designing key aspects of [[Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration|George W. Bush's foreign policy]]; especially in their support of Israel, promotion of American influence in the [[Arab World]] and launching the [[~~Global~~ War on Terror]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Record, Jeffrey |title=Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hOlgQUq7FYC&pg=PT47 |year=2010 |publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |pages=47–50 |access-date=12 June 2016 |isbn=978-1-59797-590-2 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161642/https://books.google.com/books?id=7hOlgQUq7FYC&pg=PT47 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]]'s domestic and foreign policies were heavily influenced by major ideologues affiliated with neo-conservatism, such as [[Bernard Lewis]], [[Lulu Schwartz]], [[Richard Pipes|Richard]] and [[Daniel Pipes]], [[David Horowitz]], and [[Robert Kagan]]~~, etc~~.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abrams |first=Nathan |title=Norman Podhoretz and Commentary Magazine: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons |publisher=The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4411-0968-2 |location=New York |page=1 |chapter=Introduction |quote=}}</ref>

Critics of neoconservatism have used the term to describe foreign policy and [[war hawk]]s who support aggressive [[militarism]] or [[New Imperialism|neo-imperialism]]. Historically speaking, the term ''neoconservative'' refers to those who made the ideological journey from the [[anti-Stalinist left]] to the camp of [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservatism]] during the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="Vaïsse">{{cite book| author=Vaïsse, Justin|title=Neoconservatism: The biography of a movement|publisher=Harvard University Press|date= 2010|pages= 6–11}}</ref> The movement had its intellectual roots in the magazine ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'', edited by [[Norman Podhoretz]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Balint, Benjamin|title=Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine that Transformed the Jewish Left Into the Neoconservative Right|work=PublicAffairs|date= 2010}}</ref> They spoke out against the New Left, and in that way helped define the movement.<ref>{{cite news|author= Beckerman, Gal|title=The Neoconservatism Persuasion|work=The Forward|date= 6 January 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Friedman|first= Murray|title= The Neoconservative Revolution Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy|year= 2005|publisher= Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK}}</ref>

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Another source was [[Norman Podhoretz]], editor of the magazine ''[[Commentary Magazine|Commentary]]'', from 1960 to 1995. By 1982, Podhoretz was terming himself a neoconservative in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' article titled "The Neoconservative Anguish over Reagan's Foreign Policy".<ref name="Gerson_PR">{{Cite journal|first=Mark |last=Gerson |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3564402.html |title=Norman's Conquest |journal=[[Policy Review]] |date=Fall 1995 |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320065640/http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3564402.html |archive-date=20 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20810FB3D5C0C718CDDAC0894DA484D81 |first=Norman |last=Podhoretz |title=The Neoconservative Anguish over Reagan's Foreign Policy |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |date=2 May 1982 |access-date=30 March 2008 |archive-date=9 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209034447/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20810FB3D5C0C718CDDAC0894DA484D81 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The term itself was the product of a rejection among formerly self-identified liberals of what they considered a growing leftward turn of the Democratic Party in the 1970s. Neoconservatives ~~saw~~perceived in ~~that~~the new [[Social liberalism|left liberalism]] an ideological effort to distance the Democratic Party and American liberalism from [[Cold War liberal]]ism as it was espoused by former Presidents such as [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. After the Vietnam War, the anti-communist, internationalist and interventionist roots of this Cold War liberalism seemed increasingly brittle to the neoconservatives. As a consequence they migrated to the Republican Party and formed one pillar of the Reagan Coalition and of the conservative movement. Hence, they became Neo-conservatives.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kagan |first1=Robert |title=Neocon Nation: Neoconservatism, c. 1776 |journal=World Affairs Journal |date=29 May 2008 |volume=170 |issue=4 |pages=13–35 |doi=10.3200/WAFS.170.4.13-35 |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/2008/05/29/neocon-nation-neoconservatism-c.-1776-pub-20196 |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref>

== History ==

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Through the 1950s and early 1960s, the future neoconservatives had endorsed the [[civil rights movement]], [[racial integration]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9605/opinion/thistime.html |first=James |last=Nuechterlein |title=The End of Neoconservatism |journal=[[First Things]] |volume=63 |date=May 1996 |pages=14–15 |access-date=31 March 2008 |quote=Neoconservatives differed with traditional conservatives on a number of issues, of which the three most important, in my view, were the [[New Deal]], [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]], and the nature of the [[Communism|Communist]] threat ... On civil rights, all neocons were enthusiastic supporters of [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King, Jr.]] and the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Acts of 1964]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1965|1965]]." |archive-date=6 September 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906214342/http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9605/opinion/thistime.html |url-status=live }}</ref> From the 1950s to the 1960s, liberals generally endorsed military action in order to prevent a communist victory in [[Vietnam]] during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>Robert R. Tomes, ''Apocalypse Then: American Intellectuals and the Vietnam War, 1954–1975'' (2000), p. 112.</ref>

Neoconservatism was initiated by their{{Who|date=August 2024}} repudiation of the [[Cold War]] and the "[[New Politics (1950s)|New Politics]]" of the American [[New Left]], which [[Norman Podhoretz]] said was too sympathetic to the [[counterculture]] and too alienated from the majority of the population, and by the repudiation of "anti-[[Anti-communism|anticommunism]]"{{By whom|date=August 2024}}, which included substantial endorsement of [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] politics by the New Left during the late 1960s. ~~Many~~Some neoconservatives were particularly alarmed by what they believed were the [[African American–Jewish relations|antisemitic]] sentiments of Black Power advocates.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm6UEJCGNJsC&q=running+commentary,+book |title=Benjamin Balint, ''Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine That Transformed the Jewish Left Into the Neoconservative Right'' (2010), pp. 100–18 |date=1 June 2010 |access-date=12 June 2016 |isbn=978-1-58648-860-4 |last1=Balint |first1=Benjamin |publisher=PublicAffairs |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161644/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm6UEJCGNJsC&q=running+commentary,+book |url-status=live }}</ref> Irving Kristol edited the journal ''[[The Public Interest]]'' (1965–2005), featuring economists and political scientists, which emphasized ways that government planning in the liberal state had produced unintended harmful consequences.<ref>Irving Kristol, "Forty good years,", ''Public Interest'', Spring 2005, Issue 159, pp. 5–11 is Kristol's retrospective in the final issue.</ref> ~~Many~~Some early neoconservative political figures were disillusioned Democratic politicians and intellectuals, such as [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], who served in the [[Richard M. Nixon|Nixon]] and [[Gerald R. Ford|Ford]] administrations, and [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]], who served as [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations]] in the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration. ~~Many~~Some left-wing academics such as [[Frank Meyer (political philosopher)|Frank Meyer]] and [[James Burnham]] eventually became associated with the conservative movement at this time.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|date=15 July 2020|editor-last=Gottfried|editor-first=Paul|title=The Vanishing Tradition|doi=10.7591/cornell/9781501749858.001.0001|isbn=978-1-5017-4985-8|s2cid=242603258}}</ref>

A substantial number of neoconservatives were originally moderate socialists who were originally associated with the moderate wing of the Socialist Party of America (SP) and its successor party, [[Social Democrats, USA]] (SDUSA). [[Max Shachtman]], a former Trotskyist theorist who developed a strong feeling of antipathy towards the [[New Left]], had numerous devotees among SDUSA with strong links to [[George Meany]]'s AFL-CIO. Following Shachtman and Meany, this faction led the SP to oppose immediate withdrawal from the Vietnam War, and oppose George McGovern in the Democratic primary race and, to some extent, the general election. They also chose to cease their own party-building and concentrated on working within the Democratic Party, eventually influencing it through the [[Democratic Leadership Council]].<ref>Justin Vaïsse, Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement (Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 214–19</ref> Thus the Socialist Party dissolved in 1972, and SDUSA emerged that year. (Most of the left-wing of the party, led by Michael Harrington, immediately abandoned SDUSA.)<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uru7tdlv3FgC&q=shachtman,+realignment&pg=PT84 |author= Martin Duberman |title= A Saving Remnant: The Radical Lives of Barbara Deming and David McReynolds |publisher= The New Press |date= 2013 |access-date= 12 June 2016 |isbn= 978-1-59558-697-1 |archive-date= 23 January 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161644/https://books.google.com/books?id=uru7tdlv3FgC&q=shachtman,+realignment&pg=PT84 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ym-qm7i5WHYC&q=shachtman,+sdusa&pg=PA300 |author= Maurice Isserman |title= The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington |date= 2001 |page= 300 of 290–304 |publisher= PublicAffairs |orig-date= 8 December 1972 |access-date= 12 June 2016 |isbn= 978-0-7867-5280-5 |archive-date= 23 January 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161645/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ym-qm7i5WHYC&q=shachtman,+sdusa&pg=PA300 |url-status= live }}</ref> SDUSA leaders associated with neoconservatism include [[Carl Gershman]], [[Penn Kemble]], [[Joshua Muravchik]] and [[Bayard Rustin]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z3b7syYOqskC&q=bayard |title=Justin Vaïsse, Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement (Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 71–75 |access-date=12 June 2016 |isbn=978-0-674-05051-8 |last1=Vaïsse |first1=Justin |year=2010 |publisher=Harvard University Press |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161651/https://books.google.com/books?id=z3b7syYOqskC&q=bayard |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Jack Ross, The Socialist Party of America: A Complete History (University of Nebraska Press, 2015), the entire Chapter 17 entitled "[https://books.google.com/books?id=fud1BwAAQBAJ&q=social+democrats+usa Social Democrats USA and the Rise of Neoconservatism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161645/https://books.google.com/books?id=fud1BwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jack+ross,+socialist&hl=en&sa=X&ei=E-tdVcnUFc61sQTR2IPoCQ&ved=0CCAQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=social%20democrats%20usa&f=false |date=23 January 2023 }}"</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Matthews |first=Dylan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/28/meet-the-gay-socialist-pacifist-who-planned-the-1963-march-on-washington/ |title=Dylan Matthews, "Meet Bayard Rustin" Washingtonpost.com, 28 August 2013 |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=28 August 2013 |access-date=12 June 2016 |archive-date=10 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610130030/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/28/meet-the-gay-socialist-pacifist-who-planned-the-1963-march-on-washington/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://neoconservatism.vaisse.net/doku.php?id=start#tablethe_three_ages_of_neoconservatism |title="Table: The three ages of neoconservatism" Neoconservatism: Biography of Movement by Justin Vaisse-official website |publisher=Neoconservatism.vaisse.net |access-date=12 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320161743/http://neoconservatism.vaisse.net/doku.php?id=start#tablethe_three_ages_of_neoconservatism |archive-date=20 March 2016 }}</ref>

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=== Leo Strauss and his students ===

[[C. Bradley Thompson]], a professor at Clemson University, claims that most influential neoconservatives refer explicitly to the theoretical ideas in the philosophy of [[Leo Strauss]] (1899–1973),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cato-unbound.org/2011/03/07/c-bradley-thompson/neoconservatism-unmasked |title=Neoconservatism Unmasked |date=7 March 2011 |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006055910/https://www.cato-unbound.org/2011/03/07/c-bradley-thompson/neoconservatism-unmasked |url-status=live }}</ref> although there are several writers who claim that in doing so they may draw upon meaning that Strauss himself [[Leo Strauss#Response to criticism|did not endorse]]. Eugene Sheppard notes: "Much scholarship tends to understand Strauss as an inspirational founder of American neoconservatism".<ref>Eugene R. Sheppard, ''Leo Strauss and the politics of exile: the making of a political philosopher'' (2005), p. 1.</ref> Strauss was a refugee from Nazi Germany who taught at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York (1938–1948) and the [[University of Chicago]] (1949–1969).<ref>Allan Bloom, "Leo Strauss: September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973,", ''Political Theory'', November 1974, Vol. 2 Issue 4, pp. 372–92, an obituary and appreciation by one of his prominent students.</ref>

Strauss asserted that "the crisis of the West consists in the West's having become uncertain of its purpose". His solution was a restoration of the vital ideas and faith that in the past had sustained the moral purpose of the West. The [[Greek classics]] ([[classical republican]] and [[modern republican]]), [[political philosophy]] and the [[Judeo-Christian ethics|Judeo-Christian heritage]] are the essentials of the Great Tradition in Strauss's work.<ref>John P. East, "Leo Strauss and American Conservatism,", [http://www.mmisi.org/ma/21_01/east.pdf ''Modern Age'', Winter 1977, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp. 2–19 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111171310/http://www.mmisi.org/ma/21_01/east.pdf |date=11 January 2012 }}.</ref><ref>[http://www.aei.org/publication/leo-strausss-perspective-on-modern-politics/ "Leo Strauss's Perspective on Modern Politics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627205541/https://www.aei.org/*/leo-strausss-perspective-on-modern-politics/ |date=27 June 2020 }} – [[American Enterprise Institute]]</ref> Strauss emphasized the spirit of the Greek classics and Thomas G. West (1991) argues that for Strauss the [[American Founding Fathers]] were correct in their understanding of the classics in their principles of justice.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=West|first=Thomas G.|date=1991|title=Leo Strauss and the American Founding|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=53|issue=1|pages=157–172|doi=10.1017/s0034670500050257|s2cid=144097678|issn=0034-6705}}</ref>

For Strauss, political community is defined by convictions about justice and happiness rather than by sovereignty and force. A classical liberal, he repudiated the philosophy of [[John Locke]] as a bridge to 20th-century historicism and nihilism and instead defended [[liberal democracy]] as closer to the spirit of the classics than other modern regimes.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kenneth L. Deutsch|author2=John Albert Murley|title=Leo Strauss, the Straussians, and the American Regime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AUpAMhf8OAC&pg=PA63|year=1999|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=63|access-date=12 June 2016|isbn=978-0-8476-8692-6|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161656/https://books.google.com/books?id=0AUpAMhf8OAC&pg=PA63|url-status=live}}</ref> For Strauss, the American awareness of ineradicable evil in human nature and hence the need for morality, was a beneficial outgrowth of the pre-modern Western tradition.<ref>Thomas G. West, "Leo Strauss and the American Founding,", ''Review of Politics'', Winter 1991, Vol. 53 Issue 1, pp. 157–72.</ref> O'Neill (2009) notes that Strauss wrote little about American topics, but his students wrote a great deal and that Strauss's influence caused his students to reject [[historicism]] and [[positivism]] as [[Moral relativism|morally relativist]] positions.<ref name=ZZ4>[[Catherine H. Zuckert]], [[Michael P. Zuckert]], ''The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy'', University of Chicago Press, 2008, p. 4ff.</ref> They instead promoted a so-called Aristotelian perspective on America that produced a qualified defense of its liberal constitutionalism.<ref>Johnathan O'Neill, "Straussian constitutional history and the Straussian political project,", ''Rethinking History'', December 2009, Vol. 13 Issue 4, pp. 459–78.</ref> Strauss's emphasis on [[Moral realism|moral clarity]] led the Straussians to develop an approach to [[international relations]] that Catherine and Michael Zuckert (2008) call '''Straussian [[Wilsonianism]]''' (or '''Straussian [[Idealism (international relations)|idealism]]'''), the defense of liberal democracy in the face of its vulnerability.<ref name=ZZ4/><ref>[[Irving Kristol]], ''The Neo-conservative Persuasion: Selected Essays, 1942-2009'', Basic Books, 2011, p. 217.</ref>

Strauss influenced ''The Weekly Standard'' editor [[Bill Kristol]], [[William Bennett]], [[Newt Gingrich]], [[Antonin Scalia]] and [[Clarence Thomas]], as well as [[Paul Wolfowitz]].<ref>Barry F. Seidman and Neil J. Murphy, eds. ''Toward a new political humanism'' (2004), p. 197.</ref><ref>Sheppard, ''Leo Strauss and the politics of exile: the making of a political philosopher'' (2005), pp. 1–2.</ref>

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And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam [Hussein] worth? And the answer is not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.<ref>{{Cite news|first= Charles|last= Pope|title= Cheney changed his view on Iraq|url= http://www.seattlepi.com/national/192908_cheney29.html|publisher= Seattle Post Intelligencer|date= 29 September 2008|access-date= 25 October 2008|archive-date= 16 November 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211116153124/http://www.seattlepi.com/national/192908_cheney29.html|url-status= live}}</ref>}}

A key neoconservative policy-forming document, ''[[A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm]]'' (commonly known as the "Clean Break" report) was published in 1996 by a study group of American-Jewish neoconservative strategists led by [[Richard Perle]] on the behest of newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]. The report called for a new, more aggressive Middle East policy on the part of the United States in defense of the interests of Israel, including the removal of [[Saddam Hussein]] from power in [[Iraq]] and the containment of [[Syria]] through a series of [[proxy war]]s, the outright rejection of any solution to the [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]] that would include a [[Palestinian state]], and an alliance between Israel, [[Turkey]] and [[Jordan]] against Iraq, Syria and [[Iran]]. Former [[United States Assistant Secretary of Defense]] and leading neoconservative [[Richard Perle]] was the "Study Group Leader,", but the final report included ideas from fellow neoconservatives, pro-Israel right-wingers and affiliates of Netanyahu's [[Likud]] party, such as [[Douglas Feith]], James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks Jr., Jonathan Torop, [[David Wurmser]], [[Meyrav Wurmser]], and IASPS president Robert Loewenberg.<ref>"[http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm ''A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125123844/http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm |date=January 25, 2014 }}" text states, "The main substantive ideas in this paper emerge from a discussion in which prominent opinion makers, including Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser participated."</ref>

Within a few years of the Gulf War in [[Iraq]], many neoconservatives were endorsing the ousting of Saddam Hussein. On 19 February 1998, an open letter to President Clinton was published, signed by dozens of pundits, many identified with neoconservatism and later related groups such as the [[Project for the New American Century]], urging decisive action to remove Saddam from power.<ref>[[Stephen Solarz|Solarz, Stephen]], et al. "[http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/rumsfeld-openletter.htm Open Letter to the President] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404193525/http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/rumsfeld-openletter.htm |date=4 April 2004 }}", 19 February 1998, online at IraqWatch.org. Retrieved 16 September 2006.</ref>

Neoconservatives were also members of the so-called "[[Blue Team (U.S. politics)|blue team]]", which argued for a confrontational policy toward the [[People's Republic of China]] (the communist government of mainland China) and strong military and diplomatic endorsement for the [[Republic of China]] (also known as ~~Formosa or~~ Taiwan).

=== 2000s ===

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Bush's policies changed dramatically immediately after the [[September 11 attacks|11 September 2001 attacks]].

During Bush's State of the Union speech of January 2002, he named Iraq, Iran and North Korea as states that "constitute an [[axis of evil]]" and "pose a grave and growing danger". Bush suggested the possibility of [[preemptive war]]: "I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons".<ref>"[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html The President's State of the Union Speech] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502151928/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html |date=2 May 2009 }}.". White House press release, 29 January 2002.</ref><ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20071116044957/http://www.observer.com/node/47005 Bush Speechwriter's Revealing Memoir Is Nerd's Revenge]". ''[[The New York Observer]]'', 19 January 2003</ref>

Some major defense and national-security persons have been quite critical of what they believed was a neoconservative influence in getting the United States to go to war against Iraq.<ref>[[Douglas Porch]], "Writing History in the "'End of History"' Era – Reflections on Historians and the GWOT,", '' Journal of Military History'', October 2006, Vol. 70 Issue 4, pp. 1065–79.</ref>

Former Nebraska Republican U.S. senator and Secretary of Defense, [[Chuck Hagel]], who has been critical of the Bush administration's adoption of neoconservative ideology, in his book ''America: Our Next Chapter'' wrote: {{blockquote|So why did we invade Iraq? I believe it was the triumph of the so-called neo-conservative ideology, as well as Bush administration arrogance and incompetence that took America into this war of choice. ... They obviously made a convincing case to a president with very limited national security and foreign policy experience, who keenly felt the burden of leading the nation in the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack ever on American soil.}}

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Policy analysts noted that the Bush Doctrine as stated in the 2002 NSC document had a strong resemblance to recommendations presented originally in a controversial Defense Planning Guidance draft written during 1992 by [[Paul Wolfowitz]], during the first Bush administration.<ref>"[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/cron.html The evolution of the Bush doctrine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822204037/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/cron.html |date=22 August 2017 }}", in "The war behind closed doors". ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'', [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]. 20 February 2003.</ref>

The Bush Doctrine was greeted with accolades by many neoconservatives. When asked whether he agreed with the Bush Doctrine, [[Max Boot]] said he did and that "I think [Bush is] exactly right to say we can't sit back and wait for the next terrorist strike on Manhattan. We have to go out and stop the terrorists overseas. We have to play the role of the global policeman. ... But I also argue that we ought to go further".<ref>"[https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1000.html The Bush Doctrine]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730160913/https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1000.html |date=30 July 2020 }}." ''[[Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg|Think Tank]]'', [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]. 11 July 2002.</ref> Discussing the significance of the Bush Doctrine, neoconservative writer [[Bill Kristol]] claimed: "The world is a mess. And, I think, it's very much to Bush's credit that he's gotten serious about dealing with it. ... The danger is not that we're going to do too much. The danger is that we're going to do too little".<ref>"[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/themes/assess.html Assessing the Bush Doctrine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817202633/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/themes/assess.html |date=17 August 2020 }}", in "The war behind closed doors.". ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'', [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]. 20 February 2003.</ref>

==== 2008 presidential election and aftermath ====

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=== 2010s and 2020s ===

By 2010, U.S. forces had switched from combat to a training role in Iraq and they left in 2011.<ref>Stephen McGlinchey, "Neoconservatism and American Foreign Policy", ''Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science'', Vol. 16, 1 (October 2010).</ref> The neocons had little influence in the Obama White House,<ref name="abstract">{{cite journal |last1=Homolar-Riechmann |first1=Alexandra |year=2009 |title=The moral purpose of US power: neoconservatism in the age of Obama | journal = Contemporary Politics |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=179–96 |doi=10.1080/13569770902858111|s2cid=154947602 }}</ref><ref name="Robert Singh 2014 pp 29-40">Robert Singh, "Neoconservatism in the age of Obama,", in Inderjeet Parmar and Linda B. Miller, eds., ''Obama and the World: New Directions in US Foreign Policy'' (Routledge 2014), pp. 29–40</ref> and neo-conservatives have lost much influence in the Republican party since the rise of the [[Tea Party Movement]].

Several neoconservatives played a major role in the [[Stop Trump movement]] in 2016, in opposition to the Republican presidential candidacy of [[Donald Trump]], due to his criticism of interventionist foreign policies, as well as their perception of him as an "authoritarian" figure.<ref>{{Cite news|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|title=Neocons for Hillary: why some conservatives think Trump threatens democracy itself|date=4 March 2016|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/3/4/11160618/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-neocons|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=8 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108142431/http://www.vox.com/2016/3/4/11160618/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-neocons|url-status=live}}</ref> After Trump took office, some neoconservatives joined his administration, such as [[John Bolton]], [[Mike Pompeo]], [[Elliott Abrams]]<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Politico]]|title=Elliott Abrams, prominent D.C. neocon, named special envoy for Venezuela|date=25 January 2019|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-envoy-venezuela-1128562|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204115156/https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-envoy-venezuela-1128562|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Nadia Schadlow]]. Neoconservatives have supported the Trump administration's hawkish approach towards Iran<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The National Interest]]|date=17 October 2017|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/after-the-neocons-finally-trump-22767|title=Are the Neocons Finally with Trump?|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=23 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223083858/https://nationalinterest.org/feature/after-the-neocons-finally-trump-22767|url-status=live}}</ref> and Venezuela,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Deutsche Welle]]|url=https://www.dw.com/cda/en/neocon-led-us-venezuela-policy-rhetoric-trigger-deja-vu-effect/a-47359446|title=Neocon-led US Venezuela policy, rhetoric trigger deja vu effect|date=5 February 2019|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804075318/https://www.dw.com/cda/en/neocon-led-us-venezuela-policy-rhetoric-trigger-deja-vu-effect/a-47359446|url-status=live}}</ref> while opposing the administration's withdrawal of troops from Syria<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria and build a border wall instead marks a key moment for his 'America first' view|date=19 December 2019|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-syria-withdrawal-20181219-story.html|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=19 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119184043/https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-syria-withdrawal-20181219-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and diplomatic outreach to North Korea.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|title=The North Korea Summit Through the Looking Glass|date=13 June 2018|url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/06/singapore-summit-korea-kim-trump-moon|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025928/https://jacobinmag.com/2018/06/singapore-summit-korea-kim-trump-moon/|url-status=live}}</ref> Although neoconservatives have served in the Trump administration, they have been observed to have been slowly overtaken by the nascent [[Populism in the United States|populist]] and [[National conservatism|national conservative]] movements, and to have struggled to adapt to a changing geopolitical atmosphere.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Elghossain|first=Anthony|date=3 April 2019|title=The Enduring Power of Neoconservatism|magazine=The New Republic|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/153450/enduring-power-neoconservatism|access-date=9 July 2021|issn=0028-6583|archive-date=4 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704114919/https://newrepublic.com/article/153450/enduring-power-neoconservatism|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Bill Kristol Wanders the Wilderness of Trump World|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/bill-kristol-wanders-the-wilderness-of-trump-world|access-date=9 July 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2 February 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507025444/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/bill-kristol-wanders-the-wilderness-of-trump-world|url-status=live}}</ref> [[The Lincoln Project]], a political action committee consisting of current and former Republicans with the purpose of defeating Trump in the [[2020 United States presidential election]] and Republican Senate candidates in the [[2020 United States Senate elections]], has been described as being primarily made of neoconservative activists seeking to return the Republican party to Bush-era ideology.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Neoconservative Wolves Dressed in Never-Trumper Clothing|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/neocon-wolves-dressed-in-never-trumper-clothing/|access-date=9 July 2021|website=The American Conservative|date=10 August 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019152352/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/neocon-wolves-dressed-in-never-trumper-clothing/|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Trump was not reelected and the Republicans failed to retain a majority in the Senate, surprising success in the [[2020 United States House of Representatives elections]] and internal conflicts led to renewed questions about the strength of neoconservatism.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 April 2021|title=How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks|url=https://apnews.com/article/john-weaver-lincoln-project-crisis-b14be5f06588b8f1d78125d4141394cb|access-date=9 July 2021|website=AP NEWS|language=en|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161652/https://apnews.com/article/john-weaver-lincoln-project-crisis-b14be5f06588b8f1d78125d4141394cb|url-status=live}}</ref>

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who embodied views that were hawkish yet still fundamentally in line with [[Realpolitik]]. The more institutionalized neoconservatism that exerted influence through think tanks, the media and government officials, rejected Realpolitik and thus the [[Kirkpatrick Doctrine]]. This rejection became an impetus to push for active US support for democratic transitions in various autocratic nations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pee |first1=Robert |last2=Lucas |first2=Scott |title=Reevaluating Democracy Promotion: The Reagan Administration, Allied Authoritarian States, and Regime Change |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |date=2 September 2022 |volume=24 |issue=3 |doi=10.1162/jcws_a_01090 |s2cid=252014598 |url=https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article-abstract/24/3/151/112895/Reevaluating-Democracy-PromotionThe-Reagan?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=6 July 2023}}</ref>

In the 1990s leading thinkers of this modern strand of the neoconservative school of thought, Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol, published an essay in which they lay out the basic tenants of what they call a Neo-Reaganite foreign policy. In it they reject a "return to normalcy" after the end of the [[Cold War]] and argue that the United States should instead double down on defending and extending the [[Liberal international order|liberal International order]]. They trace the origin of their approach to foreign policy back to the foundation of the United States as a revolutionary, liberal capitalist republic. As opposed to advocates of Realpolitik, they argue that domestic politics and foreign policies are inextricably linked making it natural for any nation to be influenced by ideology, ideals and concepts of morality in their respective international conduct. Hence, this archetypical neoconservative position attempts to overcome the dichotomy of [[pragmatism]] and [[Idealism in international relations|idealism]] emphasizing instead that a values-driven foreign policy is not just consistent with American historical tradition but that it is in the [[enlightened self-interest]] of the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kagan |first1=Robert |last2=Kristol |first2=Bill |title=Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=1 July 1996 |volume=75 |issue=July/August 1996 |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1996-07-01/toward-neo-reaganite-foreign-policy |access-date=6 July 2023}}</ref>

=== Views on economics ===

While neoconservatism is concerned primarily with foreign policy, there is also some discussion of internal economic policies. Neoconservatism generally endorses [[free market]]s and [[capitalism]], favoring [[supply-side economics]], but it has several disagreements with [[classical liberalism]] and [[fiscal conservatism]]. Irving Kristol states that neocons are more relaxed about budget deficits and tend to reject the [[Friedrich Hayek|Hayekian]] notion that the growth of government influence on society and public welfare is "[[the road to serfdom]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp?page=2 |author=Irving Kristol |title=The Neoconservative Persuasion |publisher=Weekly Standard |date=25 August 2003 |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-date=9 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909225210/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp?page=2 |url-status=~~live~~dead }}</ref> Indeed, to safeguard democracy, government intervention and budget deficits may sometimes be necessary, Kristol argues. After the so-called "reconciliation with capitalism,", self-identified "neoconservatives" frequently favored a reduced welfare state, but not its elimination.

Neoconservative ideology stresses that while free markets do provide material goods in an efficient way, they lack the moral guidance human beings need to fulfill their needs. They say that morality can be found only in tradition and that markets do pose questions that cannot be solved solely by economics, arguing: "So, as the economy only makes up part of our lives, it must not be allowed to take over and entirely dictate to our society".<ref>Murray, p. 40.</ref> Critics consider neoconservatism a bellicose and "heroic" ideology opposed to "mercantile" and "bourgeois" virtues and therefore "a variant of anti-economic thought".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000553.php |publisher=Social Affairs Unit |author=William Coleman |title=Heroes or Heroics? Neoconservatism, Capitalism, and Bourgeois Ethics |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730161848/http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000553.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Political scientist [[Zeev Sternhell]] states: "Neoconservatism has succeeded in convincing the great majority of Americans that the main questions that concern a society are not economic, and that social questions are really moral questions".<ref>{{cite book | last1=Sternhell | first1=Zeev | last2=Maisel | first2=David | title=The anti-enlightenment tradition |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press | date=2010 | isbn=978-0-300-15633-1 | oclc=667065029}} p. 436.</ref>

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In putting these themes into practice, neo-conservatives:

# Analyze international issues in [[Dualistic cosmology#Moral dualism|black-and-white, absolute moral]] categories. They are fortified by a conviction that they alone hold the moral high ground and argue that disagreement is tantamount to defeatism.

# Focus on the "unipolar" power of the United States, seeing the use of military force as the first, not the last, option of foreign policy. They repudiate the "lessons of Vietnam,", which they interpret as undermining American will toward the use of force, and embrace the "[[lessons of Munich]],", interpreted as establishing the virtues of preemptive military action.

# Disdain conventional diplomatic agencies such as the State Department and conventional country-specific, realist, and pragmatic, analysis (see [[Wikt:shoot first and ask questions later|shoot first and ask questions later]]). They are hostile toward nonmilitary multilateral institutions and instinctively antagonistic toward international treaties and agreements. "Global unilateralism" is their watchword. They are fortified by international criticism, believing that it confirms American virtue.

# Look to the Reagan administration as the [[Political positions of Ronald Reagan|exemplar of all these virtues]] and seek to establish their version of Reagan's legacy as the Republican and national orthodoxy.<ref name="America Alone"/>{{rp|10–11}}}}

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=== What exactly does Neoconservatism conserve? ===

Former [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Congressman [[Ron Paul]] (now a [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] politician) has been a longtime critic of neoconservativism as an attack on freedom and the Constitution, including an extensive speech on the House floor addressing neoconservative beginnings and how neoconservatism is neither new nor conservative.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/OSY296oTHyw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508160536/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSY296oTHyw&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OSY296oTHyw|title = Ron Paul - Neo-CONNED!|website = [[YouTube]]| date=20 April 2011 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Imperialism and secrecy ===

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* [[George W. Bush]] – 43rd [[President of the United States|U.S. President]], 46th U.S. [[Governor of Texas]]<ref name="Neoconservativeconvergence">{{cite news|url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/charles-krauthammer/the-neoconservative-convergence/|title=The Neoconservative Convergence|last=Krauthammer|first=Charles|date=1 July 2005|work=Commentary Magazine|access-date=6 April 2020|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109021819/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/charles-krauthammer/the-neoconservative-convergence/|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Jeb Bush]] – 43rd U.S. [[Governor of Florida]], 2016 Republican presidential candidate<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/18/jeb-bush-neoconservative.html |title=Jeb Bush, neoconservative |publisher=Fox News |date=18 February 2015 |access-date=12 June 2016 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142127/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/18/jeb-bush-neoconservative.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

* [[Dick Cheney]] – 46th [[Vice President of the United States|U.S. Vice President]]<ref name="Neoconservativeconvergence"/>

* [[Donald Rumsfeld]] – former [[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]]<ref name="Neoconservativeconvergence"/>

* [[Liz Cheney]] – former [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] for [[Wyoming]]'s [[Wyoming's at-large congressional district|at-large]] district<ref>{{cite news |title=Liz Cheney, Neocon Senator and President? |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/liz-cheney-senator-president-8700 |access-date=5 February 2021 |work=The National Interest |archive-date=12 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312141304/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/liz-cheney-senator-president-8700 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lake |first1=Eli |title=Republican Hawks Need Liz Cheney in the Senate |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-30/liz-cheney-for-senate-republicans-hawks-sure-hope-so |website=Bloomberg.com |date=30 June 2019 |access-date=30 April 2021 |archive-date=30 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430064755/https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-30/liz-cheney-for-senate-republicans-hawks-sure-hope-so |url-status=live }}</ref>

* [[Tom Cotton]]<ref>https://www.vox.com/2014/11/5/7154855/tom-cotton-rand-paul</ref>

* [[Lindsey Graham]]<ref>https://theweek.com/articles/556042/how-lindsey-grahams-blustery-neocon-nonsense-could-help-rand-paul</ref>

* [[Henry M. Jackson|Henry "Scoop" Jackson]] – former U.S. Senator from Washington<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kirsch |first1=Adam |title=Muscular Movement |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/muscular-movement |access-date=17 July 2023 |publisher=Tablet |date=1 June 2010}}</ref>

* [[Joe Lieberman]] – former U.S. Senator from Connecticut, 2000 Democratic vice-presidential nominee<ref>{{cite news |last1=Byron |first1=Tau |title=Lieberman to join conservative group |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/joe-lieberman-to-join-conservative-think-tank-088697 |access-date=12 July 2023 |publisher=Politico |date=3 November 2013}}</ref>

* [[John McCain]] – former U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Arizona, 2000 Republican presidential candidate, 2008 Republican presidential nominee<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-mccain-neocon_b_82530|title=John McCain, Neocon|date=21 January 2008|work=HuffPost|access-date=15 June 2019|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123172906/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-mccain-neocon_b_82530|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/john-mccains-neocon-manifesto-7404|title=John McCain's Neocon Manifesto|publisher=National Interest|date=29 August 2012|access-date=12 June 2016|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224235031/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/john-mccains-neocon-manifesto-7404|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/05/when-it-comes-to-foreign-policy-john-mccain-is-more-of-a-neocon-than-president-bush.html|title=Worse Than Bush|date=28 May 2008|work=Slate|access-date=15 June 2019|archive-date=7 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207054044/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/05/when-it-comes-to-foreign-policy-john-mccain-is-more-of-a-neocon-than-president-bush.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Marco Rubio]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Preble |first=Christopher A. |date=2016-03-08 |title=Marco Rubio: The Neocons' Last Stand? |url=https://www.cato.org/commentary/marco-rubio-neocons-last-stand |access-date=2024-09-16 |publisher=[[Cato Institute]]}}</ref>

* [[Mike Gallagher (American politician)|Mike Gallagher]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/10/top-house-china-hawk-to-retire-opening-seat-in-battleground-wisconsin.html | title=Top House China hawk to retire, opening seat in battleground Wisconsin | website=[[CNBC]] | date=10 February 2024 }}</ref>

* [[Mike Pompeo]] – former Director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) and [[List of secretaries of state of the United States|70th]] [[United States Secretary of State|United States secretary of state]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/pompeo-goes-full-neocon-97432|title=Pompeo Goes Full Neocon|first=Matthew|last=Petti|date=18 November 2019|website=The National Interest}}</ref>

* [[Asa Hutchinson]] – 46th [[Governor of Arkansas]] from 2015 to 2023<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/410517/who-is-republican-2024-candidate-asa-hutchinson/|title=Who is Republican 2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson?|first=Brady|last=Knox|date=2 April 2023|website=Washington Examiner}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/us/politics/asa-hutchinson-iowa.html|title=Asa Hutchinson Is Selling Bush-Era Republicanism. Buyers Are Scarce.|first1=Jonathan|last1=Weisman|first2=Ann Hinga|last2=Klein|date=12 July 2023|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

* [[Nikki Haley]] – 29th [[List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nations|U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations]], 116th U.S. [[Governor of South Carolina]], 2024 Republican presidential candidate <ref>{{cite news |last1=Devlin |first1=Bradley |title=Tuberville: Nikki Haley is a 'Neocon' |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tuberville-nikki-haley-is-a-neocon/ |access-date=14 January 2024 |publisher=The American Conservative |date=5 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ecarma |first1=Caleb |title=Nikki Haley's Long Shot Bid Might Be the GOP's Best Shot at Dumping Trump |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/nikki-haley-long-shot-bid-gop-dumping-trump |access-date=14 January 2024 |publisher=Vanity Fair |date=13 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/09/opinion/republican-debate-winners-losers.html|title='She Certainly Beat All the Boys': Winners and Losers of the Third G.O.P. Debate|date=9 November 2023|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=14 January 2024|archive-date=15 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115020202/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/09/opinion/republican-debate-winners-losers.html}}</ref>

* [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] – current [[List of prime ministers of Israel|Prime Minister of Israel]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30245773|title=Netanyahu's Second Coming: A Neoconservative Policy Paradigm?|last1=Ben-Porat|first1=Guy|date=October 2005|website=JSTOR}}</ref>

* [[Javier Milei]] – [[economist]] and current [[List of presidents of Argentina|President of Argentina]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://responsiblestatecraft.org/javier-milei-argentina-foreign-policy/|title=On foreign policy, Argentina’s Milei leans neocon, not libertarian|last1=Mamedov|first1=Eldar|date=22 November 2023|website=Responsible Statecraft}}</ref>

* [[Victoria Villarruel]] – current [[List of vice presidents of Argentina|Vice President of Argentina]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lasalvia |first1=Emilio |title=Victoria Villarruel, the first vice-president to play down dictatorship’s crimes |url=https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/victoria-villarruel-the-first-vice-president-to-play-down-dictatorships-crimes.phtml |access-date=1 December 2023 |publisher=Buenos Aires Times |date=22 November 2023}}</ref>

=== Government officials ===

[[File:William Kristol (33193185016).jpg|thumb|[[Bill Kristol]] orating at [[Arizona State University]] in March 2017]]

* [[John P. Walters]] – former U.S. government official, current President and Chief Executive Officer of [[Hudson Institute]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Walters|url=https://militarist-monitor.org/profile/john-walters/|website=Militarist Monitor}}</ref>

* [[Nadia Schadlow]] – academic and defense-related government officer<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/11/11/the-battle-for-who-owns-conservative-statecraft/|title=The battle for who owns 'conservative statecraft'|last1=Larison|first1=Daniel|date=11 November 2022|website=Responsible Statecraft}}</ref>

* [[Elliot Abrams]] – foreign policy advisor<ref name="Bernstein">{{cite web|author=Adam Bernstein|title=Irving Kristol dies at 89; godfather of neoconservatism|date=18 September 2009|quote=many neoconservatives, such as Paul Wolfowitz, William Bennett, Richard Perle and Elliott Abrams|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-irving-kristol19-2009sep19-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=30 June 2017|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225044837/https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-irving-kristol19-2009sep19-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trumps-neocon-elliott-abrams/515784/|title=Elliott Abrams: Trump's Neocon?|date=6 February 2017|work=The Atlantic|access-date=15 June 2019|archive-date=17 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217120312/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trumps-neocon-elliott-abrams/515784/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-envoy-venezuela-1128562|title=Elliott Abrams, prominent D.C. neocon, named special envoy for Venezuela|date=25 January 2019|work=Politico|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204115156/https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-envoy-venezuela-1128562|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="How Neoconservatives Conquered Washington – and Launched a War">{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/orig/lind1.html|title=How Neoconservatives Conquered Washington – and Launched a War|date=10 April 2003|work=Antiwar.com|access-date=15 June 2019|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126094224/http://www.antiwar.com/orig/lind1.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Chechen Terrorists and the Neocons">{{cite web|url=https://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/19/chechen-terrorists-and-the-neocons/|title=Chechen Terrorists and the Neocons|date=19 April 2013|work=Consortium News|access-date=16 June 2019|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207000130/https://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/19/chechen-terrorists-and-the-neocons/|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Richard Perle]] – former Assistant Secretary of Defense and lobbyist<ref name="Bernstein"/><ref name="Chechen Terrorists and the Neocons"/>

* [[John R. Bolton]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Jentleson|first1=Bruce W.|last2=Whytock|first2=Christopher A.|s2cid=57572461|date=March 30, 2006|title=Who 'Won' Libya? The Force-Diplomacy Debate and Its Implications for Theory and Policy|journal=International Security|volume=30|issue=3 |pages=47–86|doi=10.1162/isec.2005.30.3.47|url=https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1752&context=faculty_scholarship}}</ref>▼

* [[Kenneth Adelman]] – former Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Agency<ref name="Chechen Terrorists and the Neocons"/>

* [[William Bennett]] – former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, former Director of the National Drug Control Policy and former U.S. Secretary of Education<ref name="Bernstein"/><ref>Edward B. Fiske, [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/22/magazine/reagan-s-man-for-education.html?pagewanted=all Reagan's Man for Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117041217/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/22/magazine/reagan-s-man-for-education.html?pagewanted=all |date=17 November 2020 }}, ''The New York Times'' (22 December 1985): "Bennett's scholarly production has consisted primarily of articles in neo-conservative journals like Commentary, Policy Review and The Public Interest."</ref>

▲* [[John Bolton]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Jentleson|first1=Bruce W.|last2=Whytock|first2=Christopher A.|s2cid=57572461|date=March 30, 2006|title=Who 'Won' Libya? The Force-Diplomacy Debate and Its Implications for Theory and Policy|journal=International Security|volume=30|issue=3 |pages=47–86|doi=10.1162/isec.2005.30.3.47|url=https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1752&context=faculty_scholarship}}</ref>

* [[Eliot A. Cohen]] – former State Department Counselor, now Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies at the [[Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies]] at the Johns Hopkins University<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Cohen_Eliot/|title=Cohen, Eliot|work=Right Web|publisher=Institute for Policy Studies|date=30 January 2017|quote=Eliot Cohen, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), has been an important supporter of neoconservative-led foreign policy campaigns. Sometimes touted as 'the most influential neocon in academe,' Cohen had multiple roles in the George W. Bush administration ...|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-date=19 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019190817/https://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cohen_eliot/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Return of the Neocons: Trump's Surprising Cabinet Candidates">{{cite web|url=http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/11/17/Return-Neocons-Trump-s-Surprising-Cabinet-Candidates|title=Return of the Neocons: Trump's Surprising Cabinet Candidates|date=17 November 2016|work=The Fiscal Times|access-date=16 June 2019|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810195109/http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/11/17/Return-Neocons-Trump-s-Surprising-Cabinet-Candidates|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Eric S. Edelman]] – former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy<ref>{{cite web |last1=Edelman |first1=Eric |title=Eric Edelman Oral History |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/eric-edelman-oral-history |website=Miller Center |access-date=6 July 2023 |date=2 June 2017}}</ref>

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[[File:Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, San Francisco, 2013.jpg|thumb|[[Lulu Schwartz]]]]

* [[Lulu Schwartz]] - American journalist, author and columnist who held a senior policy analyst role at [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]] (FDD), a neo-conservative think tank based in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Janiskee |editor-first1=Brian P. |editor-last2=Masugi |editor-first2=Ken |title=The California Republic: Institutions, Statesmanship, and Policies |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=0-7425-3250-X |location=Lanham, Maryland |page=368}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abrams |first=Nathan |title=Norman Podhoretz and Commentary Magazine: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons |publisher=The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4411-0968-2 |location=New York, NY |page=1 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

* [[Niall Ferguson]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/20/niall-ferguson-interview-civilization | title=Niall Ferguson: 'Westerners don't understand how vulnerable freedom is' | newspaper=The Observer | date=20 February 2011 | last1=Skidelsky | first1=William }}</ref>

*[[David Frum]] – journalist, Republican speechwriter and columnist<ref>{{cite book |last=Mann |first=James |author-link=James Mann (writer) |title=Rise of the Vulcans |publisher=Penguin Books |edition=1st paperback |date=September 2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/riseofvulcanshis00mann/page/318 318] |isbn=978-0-14-303489-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofvulcanshis00mann/page/318 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/08/16/the-reinvention-of-david-frum/|title=The Reinvention of David Frum|date=17 August 2012|work=Antiwar.com|access-date=16 June 2019|archive-date=17 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217152205/https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/08/16/the-reinvention-of-david-frum/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/no_author/neocon-war-criminal-tells-cnn-viewers-to-trust-media-because-it-lies/|title=Neocon War Criminal Tells CNN Viewers to Trust Media Because It Lies|date=2 January 2018|work=LewRockwell.com|access-date=16 June 2019|archive-date=2 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202211310/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/no_author/neocon-war-criminal-tells-cnn-viewers-to-trust-media-because-it-lies/|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Reuel Marc Gerecht]] – writer, political analyst and senior fellow at the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]]<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Politico]]|title=GOP foreign policy elites flock to Clinton|date=6 July 2016|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/national-security-clinton-trump-225137|access-date=18 June 2019|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107062002/https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/national-security-clinton-trump-225137|url-status=live}}</ref>

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* [[Clifford May]] – founder and president of the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]]<ref>{{cite news|title=The most influential US conservatives: 81–100|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1435460/The-most-influential-US-conservatives-81-100.html|date=29 October 2007|access-date=21 July 2009|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128095311/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1435460/The-most-influential-US-conservatives-81-100.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Joshua Muravchik]] - political scholar<ref>{{cite news |last1=Muravchik |first1=Joshua |title=The Future is Neocon |url=https://nationalinterest.org/greatdebate/neocons-realists/future-neocon-3803?nopaging=1 |access-date=17 July 2023 |date=1 September 2008}}</ref>

* [[Michael Pillsbury]]<ref>https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/30/trump-china-xi-jinping-g20-michael-pillsbury-1034610 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>

* [[Danielle Pletka]] – American Enterprise Institute vice president<ref>Jacob Heilbrunn, ''They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons'' (Anchor Books, 2009), pp. 224-25: "Danielle Pletka ... a leading neocon"</ref>

* [[John Podhoretz]] – editor of ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Podhoretz – Commentary Magazine |url=https://www.commentary.org/author/john-podhoretz/ |access-date=2024-03-02 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Line 283 ⟶ 279:

* [[American Enterprise Institute]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Matthew Christopher Rhoades|title=Neoconservatism: Beliefs, the Bush Administration, and the Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnlVbs5HSicC&pg=PA110|year=2008|page=110|isbn=978-0-549-62046-4|access-date=12 June 2016}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

* [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]]<ref>{{cite book|author=John Feffer|title=Power Trip: Unilateralism and Global Strategy After September 11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8PQgoFju7UC&pg=PA231|year=2003|publisher=Seven Stories Press|page=231|isbn=978-1-60980-025-3|access-date=12 June 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161644/https://books.google.com/books?id=t8PQgoFju7UC&pg=PA231|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Foster|first=Peter|title=Obama's new head boy|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/9891755/Obamas-new-head-boy.html|access-date=12 March 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph (UK)|date=24 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228034030/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/9891755/Obamas-new-head-boy.html|archive-date=28 February 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=csmonitor>{{cite news|last=Jonsson|first=Patrik|title=Shooting of two soldiers in Little Rock puts focus on 'lone wolf' Islamic extremists|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2009/0611/p02s01-usju.html|access-date=13 March 2013|newspaper=Christian Science Monitor|date=11 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406031548/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2009/0611/p02s01-usju.html|archive-date=6 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Henry Jackson Society]]<ref>K. Dodds, K. and S. Elden, "Thinking Ahead: David Cameron, the Henry Jackson Society and BritishNeoConservatism,", ''British Journal of Politics and International Relations'' (2008), 10(3): 347–63.</ref>

* [[Hudson Institute]]<ref name="Danny Cooper 2011 45">{{cite book|author=Danny Cooper|title=Neoconservatism and American Foreign Policy: A Critical Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNyZILpcSgkC&pg=PA45|year=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=45|isbn=978-0-203-84052-8|access-date=12 June 2016|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123161657/https://books.google.com/books?id=CNyZILpcSgkC&pg=PA45|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[Project for the New American Century]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Matthew Christopher Rhoades|title=Neoconservatism: Beliefs, the Bush Administration, and the Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnlVbs5HSicC&pg=PA14|year=2008|page=14|isbn=978-0-549-62046-4|access-date=12 June 2016}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

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* Heilbrunn, Jacob. ''They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons'', Doubleday (2008) {{ISBN|0-385-51181-7}}.

** Heilbrunn, Jacob. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020502852_pf.html "5 Myths About Those Nefarious Neocons"], ''The Washington Post'', 10 February 2008.

* Kristol, Irving. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180513234617/https://www.weeklystandard.com/irving-kristol/the-neoconservative-persuasion "The Neoconservative Persuasion"].

* [[Michael Lind|Lind, Michael]]. [http://www.salon.com/2003/04/09/neocons_4/ "How Neoconservatives Conquered Washington"], ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]'', 9 April 2003.

* MacDonald, Kevin. [http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/HeilbrunnReview-final.pdf "The Neoconservative Mind"], review of ''They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons'' by Jacob Heilbrunn.

* Vaïsse, Justin. ''Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement'' (Harvard U.P. 2010), translated from the French.

* McClelland, Mark, The unbridling of virtue: neoconservatism between the Cold War and the Iraq War.

* Shavit, Ari, [https://web.archive.org/web/20151218152051/http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/white-man-s-burden-1.14110 "White Man's Burden"], Haaretz, 3 April 2003.

* Singh, Robert. "Neoconservatism in the age of Obama." in Inderjeet Parmar, ed., ''Obama and the World'' (Routledge, 2014). 51–62. [http://www.kropfpolisci.com/obama.foreign.policy.singh.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620042036/http://www.kropfpolisci.com/obama.foreign.policy.singh.pdf |date=20 June 2019 }}

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*[https://lobelog.com/neoconservativism-in-a-nutshell/ "Neoconservativism in a Nutshell"] by Jim Lobe

*[http://www.asjournal.org/65-2018/the-rise-and-demise-of-american-unipolarism-neoconservatism-and-us-foreign-policy-1989-2009/ The Rise and Demise of American Unipolarism: Neoconservatism and U.S. Foreign Policy 1989–2009] by Maria Ryan

*[https://www.americanprestigepod.com/p/unlocked-special-rescue-911-w-jim Interview with Jim Lobe on Neoconservatism]