Conservatism as a Concrete Historical Phenomenon

The subject of my talk is Konservativismus: Geschichtlicher Gehalt und Untergang (1986), Kondylis’ most monumental and influential political study. I describe its place and role in Kondylis’ work, including its methodological relation to his previous studies in the history of ideas and his later works on planetary politics and the decline of bourgeois thought. While outlining the structure of Kondylis’ argument (in comparison to some classical authors like Karl Mannheim) and his understanding of the crucial stages in the evolution of European conservative traditions, I demonstrate how his analysis could complement contemporary studies on American conservatism. One of my main points in this regard is that Kondylis’ approach to the history of conservative thought is still largely neglected in contemporary political philosophy and social studies, as most scholars continue to support the theory that conservatism developed in the 18th century as a reaction to the French Revolution. In the final part, I offer my critical evaluation of Kondylis’ depiction of conservatism’s dissolution in the 20th century.