Illiberal Ideas: An Anatomy of Intellectual Historians and Illiberalism

In this contribution, I discuss the complex role of intellectual historians in the study of antiliberalism and illiberalism. I briefly explore the politics of intellectual history, focusing on Stephen Holmes’ book Anatomy of Antiliberalism and on the rupture and appropriation of conservative ideological heritages by contemporary self-styled national conservatives. The subsequent section deals with the European amnesia of traditions of illiberalism. I argue that illiberalism in the European context should be studied from a longer historical perspective, beginning in the Napoleonic era, than just the post-1989 period.