National conservatism


National conservatism is a variant of conservatism common in Europe and Asia that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, while mixing conservative elements with purely nationalist ones.
It shares characteristics with traditionalist conservatism and social conservatism given how the three variations focus on preservation and tradition. As national conservatism seeks to preserve national interests, traditional conservatism emphasizes ancestral institutions. Additionally, social conservatism emphasizes a patriarchal, restrictive attitude regarding moral behavior to preserve one's traditional status in society. National-conservative parties often have roots in environments with a rural, traditionalist or peripheral basis, contrasting with the more urban support base of liberal-conservative parties. In Europe, most embrace some form of Euroscepticism.
The majority of conservative parties in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe since 1989 have been national conservative.

Ideology

Social policies

National conservative parties are "socially traditional", and support the traditional family and social stability. According to the Austrian political scientist Sieglinde Rosenberger, "national conservatism praises the family as a home and a center of identity, solidarity, and tradition". Many national conservatives are thus social conservatives, as well as in favor of limiting immigration and enacting strict law-and-order policies.

Economic policies

National conservative parties in different countries do not necessarily share a common position on economic policy: Their views may range from support of a planned economy to a centrist mixed economy to a laissez-faire approach. In the first, more common, case, national conservatives can be distinguished from liberal conservatives, for whom free market economic policies, deregulation, and tight spending are the main priorities. Some commentators have indeed identified a growing gap between national and economic liberal conservatism: "Most parties of the Right are run by economically liberal conservatives who, in varying degrees, have marginalized social, cultural, and national conservatives."

List of national conservative political parties

Current national conservative parties or parties with national conservative factions

The following political parties have been characterised as national conservative, at least as one of their ideological influences.