Safe for Democracy, and a Nation

ONE of the difficulties bedeviling political science is the protean nature of political words. As Robert Schuettinger pointed out in his study of European conservatism, the phrase “a conservative socialist” could mean a hardline Stalinist, a social-democratic revisionist, or merely a socialist who dressed and acted in a modest, inconspicuous way. When words like “conservative” and “liberal” are being used, context is all. So the theme of this article is advertised in neon when I begin with the definitions of these philosophies advanced by two distinguished American political theorists: Samuel Huntington and James Burnham.

Writing in The American Political Science Review in 1957, Huntington defined conservatism as that system of ideas employed to defend established institutions when they come under fundamental attack. As Huntington himself put it: “When the foundations of society are threatened, the conservative ideology reminds men of the necessity of some institutions and the desirability of the existing ones.”

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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ONE of the difficulties bedeviling political science is the protean nature of political words. As Robert Schuettinger pointed out in his study of European conservatism, the phrase “a conservative socialist” could mean a hardline Stalinist, a social-democratic revisionist, or merely a socialist who dressed and acted in a modest, inconspicuous way. When words like “conservative” and “liberal” are being used, context is all. So the theme of this article is advertised in neon when I begin with the definitions of these philosophies advanced by two distinguished American political theorists: Samuel Huntington and James Burnham.

Writing in The American Political Science Review in 1957, Huntington defined conservatism as that system of ideas employed to defend established institutions when they come under fundamental attack. As Huntington himself put it: “When the foundations of society are threatened, the conservative ideology reminds men of the necessity of some institutions and the desirability of the existing ones.”