Category: VOLUME XI, No. 2

TRIBUTE TO SIR ROGER VERNON SCRUTON

“Roger Scruton’s figure is dear to me personally because he had a good nature of a quiet, light-hearted, amazingly knowledgeable and well-informed man, friend and master. I met him in 1988, in Oxford, the place that is a hallmark of intellectual quality, but he had pragmatic political projects up in

GERMANY: THE DAM THAT BROKE

“The crisis is so severe that CDU Chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation on 10 February (effective later this year). Also, she will not be the party’s candidate for Chancellor in the next elections. She had been handpicked and groomed by Chancellor Angela Merkel to become her successor. Who will

JUDIT VARGA, HUNGARY AND THE RULE OF LAW

“Late last year the Hungarian Minister of Justice, Judit Varga, wrote an opinion column questioning the burgeoning empire of the Rule of Law and the use of that empire by the European Commission and Parliament to keep some of the member states in line. Ms Varga even argued that the

HUNGARY SQUARES THE CIRCLE OF GLOBALISATION

“What does a smallish Central European country have to teach the rest of the world about inclusive growth, fighting income inequality, and social cohesion, all while steering clear of protectionism and maintaining an open economy – in short, ‘squaring the circle’ of globalisation? In the case of Hungary quite a

REFLECTIONS ON THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION IN FRANCE – PART I

Conversations on the Philosophical Restoration of Liberty under Law Part I The English philosopher and man of letters Roger Scruton has long argued that French intellectual life was taken over by “imposters” in the 1960s. There is much evidence to support this claim. Sartre’s political commitments were perverse and even

THE VALUE OF EMPIRE

Budapest like London offers both the appeal of a former imperial centre and the opportunity for reflection on the continued value of the particular empires in question and of empire in general. Now, however, let us stop for a minute and appreciate that this approach is scarcely one that is

ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF BORDERS

In the 2019 issues of the present journal several essays discussed the importance of borders and their protection. It is fitting to remember that most wars were not only started by violating borders but were about borders and the determination to change them. Since the Second World War European inter-state

THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CONSERVATISM

A Book Review* The term conservatism appears with an increasing frequency in the European political rhetoric and media discourse; and this is equally true of the public life of those nations with or without conservative parties. But the term is often used incorrectly. It is not enough that sometimes speakers

INTRODUCTION TO BÉKÁSSY’S “FAREWELL TO THE APOSTLES”

When last year I was interviewed by Radio Kossuth about Ferenc Békássy, one of the questions concerned the chances of finding any still unknown manuscripts by the young Anglo-Hungarian poet who died at the age of 22 in the First World War. At the time I said I thought this