 A conservative (critical) theory for a postliberal era? The German radical conservative Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (1939–2011)Tobias Adler-Bartels Chapter 2 in The Conservative Critique of Liberalism, 2026, pp 36-57 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: The chapter focuses on Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner (1939–2011) and his attempt to develop a conservative (critical) theory in the 1970s. It situates his intellectual-ideological endeavor within the broader historical and strained relationship between conservatism and liberalism in Germany, where a radicalized conservatism has often defined itself in militant opposition to a supposed hegemonial liberalism. While Kaltenbrunner sought to construct a postliberal conservatism that neither conformed to liberal hegemony nor fully embraced antiliberal extremism, an explication of his work reveals strong programmatic connections to German radical conservatism of the Weimar Republic. By analyzing his conception of a ’postliberal age’ and his ideological interventions, the chapter demonstrates how Kaltenbrunner's vision of conservatism – despite its intellectual ambitions – fell into the familiar patterns of radical conservatism. The chapter highlights questions of conservatism as a complex and dynamic ideology and therefore focuses on the liberal (main) question of German conservatism. Keywords: Gerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner; Conservatism; Radicalism; Liberalism; Postliberalism; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22181_3 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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