One troubling feature of our current politics is the extent to which certain religious intellectuals have become enamored of early 20th century “clerical fascism.” Clerical fascism shouldn’t be confused with Nazism. It wasn’t committed to Hitler’s Aryan and social Darwinist theories. It was, however, highly authoritarian. The political philosophy associated with clerical fascism is often called “corporatism.” The “corporate state” was supposed to chart a “third way” separate from liberalism and communism. In practice it tended to resemble the fascism of Mussolini’s Italy.

Austria had a “clerical fascist” or “corporatist” regime from 1934 to 1938. Because Austrofascism, as it’s often called, was short lived, a certain type of conservative religious intellectuals tend to idealize. I discussed the influence these people appear to have with Vice-presidential candidate JD Vance in an essay for The Bulwark, which you can read here.

Categories: Critique of Conservatism, Opinion, Politics, Research

Tags: Austria, Austrofascism, Catholic corporatism, clerical fascism, Dollfuss, JD Vance, Quadragesimo anno