Neoconservatism - Terminology

Terminology

The term "neoconservative" was popularized in the United States during 1973 by Socialist leader Michael Harrington, who used the term to define Daniel Bell, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Irving Kristol, whose ideologies differed from Harrington's.

The "neoconservative" label was used by Irving Kristol in his 1979 article "Confessions of a True, Self-Confessed 'Neoconservative.'" His ideas have been influential since the 1950s, when he co-founded and edited the magazine Encounter. Another source was Norman Podhoretz, editor of the magazine Commentary from 1960 to 1995. By 1982 Podhoretz was terming himself a neoconservative, in a New York Times Magazine article titled "The Neoconservative Anguish over Reagan's Foreign Policy". During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the neoconservatives considered that liberalism had failed and "no longer knew what it was talking about, " according to E. J. Dionne.

The term neoconservative, which was used originally by a socialist to criticize the politics of Social Democrats, USA, has since 1980 been used as a criticism against proponents of American modern liberalism who had become slightly more conservative The term "neoconservative" was the subject of increased media coverage during the presidency of George W. Bush, with particular emphasis on a perceived neoconservative influence on American foreign policy, as part of the Bush Doctrine. The term neocon is often used as pejorative in this context.