The Neoconservative Moment in France: Raymond Aron, The United States, and the 1970s

Abstract:This article tries to place the liberal thought of Raymond Aron during the 1970s in a transatlantic context. Doing so, it argues, allows for a better understanding of Aron's liberalism during the so-called French liberal revival that occurred during this decade. Aron, it shows, was critical of much of the turn to liberalism during this time in France, and in particular the appeal that international human rights had for former French Marxists turned liberals. The paper shows that Aron's critique of various elements of the French liberal revival only really make sense in light of his fears concerning US political and military decline due to the Vietnam War, economic inflation, the SALT treaty discussions, and perceived Soviet military advantages facilitated by the turn to a foreign policy of détente in the United States. These developments, signaled to Aron, the expansion of Soviet economic and political hegemony into Western Europe. Given these concerns, the trajectory of Aron's thought took a decidedly neoconservative turn during the 1970s, much like the thought of his neoconservative allies in the United States whom remained uncompromising in their Cold War liberal commitments to containing Communism.