Abstract :
This article surveys the literature on American neoconservatism since 1979, emphasizing
those monographs which include assessments of developments in neoconservatism since 1995. It analyses the
origins of neoconservatism in the anti-Stalinist Left and in the ideological divisions of the Democratic party.
It assesses the position of neoconservatism in the American conservative tradition and its influence on
Republican party policy. It places neoconservatism within the broader context of American foreign and
domestic policy. It examines the emergence of networks of support which have sustained neoconservatives as a
group of policy intellectuals independent of universities. It concludes by asking whether neoconservatism can
be productively viewed as an expression of American ethnic politics, in particular as a response to the varying
guises which anti-Semitism has assumed in the United States. The article asserts that, although commentators
on neoconservatism from varying ideological standpoints have avoided the question of the neoconservatives’
ethnicity, it offers a plausible explanation for the protean nature and apparent inconsistency of
neoconservatism over the last forty years.
