Horseshoe theory: Difference between revisions

In [[political science]] and popular discourse,<ref name="Mayer">{{cite journal |last1=Mayer |first1=Nonna |author-link1=Nonna Mayer |title=Why extremes don't meet: Le Pen and Besancenot Voters in the 2007 Presidential Election |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |date=2011 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=101–120 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2011.290307 |url=https://spire.sciencespo.fr/hdl:/2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09iem47ao04 |quote=A commonly received idea, one strengthened by the post-war debates about the nature of totalitarianism, is that “extremes meet.” Rather than a straight line between the Left and Right poles, the political spectrum would look more like a circle, or a “horseshoe,” a metaphor the philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye used to describe the position of German parties in 1932, from the Nazis to the Communists.}}</ref> theThe '''horseshoe theory''' asserts that the [[Farfar-left politics|and the far-left]]right andon the [[Farleft-right politics|far-rightpolitical spectrum]], ratherare thannot beingon atthe opposite and opposing ends of a linear [[Political spectrum|political continuum]]. Rather, they closely resemble one another, analogous to the way that the opposite ends of a [[horseshoe]] are close together. The theory is attributed to French philosopher and writer [[Wikipedia:Jean-Pierre Faye|Jean-Pierre Faye]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Frédéric |last=Encel |author2=Thual, François |title=United States-Israel: A friendship that needs to be demystified |url=http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1751/2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930160218/http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1751/2/ |archive-date=2007-09-30 |quote=Jean-Pierre Faye's famous horseshoe theory (according to which extremes meet) finds verification here more than in other places, and the two states of delirium often mingle and meet, unfortunately spreading beyond these extremist circles. But contrary to the legend deliberately maintained and/or the commonplace believed in good faith, Israel and the United States have not always been allies; on several occasions their relations have even been strained. |work=[[w:Le Figaro]] |location=Paris |date=2004-11-13 |access-date=2009-02-13 |url-status=live}}</ref> Proponents of the theory point to a number of similarities between the far-left and the far-right, including their supposed propensity to gravitate to [[authoritarianism]] or [[totalitarianism]]. However, the horseshoe theory has also received criticism.<ref name="Filipovic">{{cite journal |last1=Filipović |first1=Miroslava |last2=Đorić |first2=Marija |title=The Left or the Right : Old Paradigms and New Governments |journal=Serbian Political Thought |date=2010 |volume=2 |issue=1–2 |pages=121–144|doi=10.22182/spt.2122011.8 }}</ref><ref name="BerletLyons">{{cite book |last1=Berlet |first1=Chip |last2=Lyons |first2=Matthew N. |title=Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort |publisher=Guilford Press |location=New York |page=342}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pavlopoulos |first1=Vassilis |title=Politics, economics, and the far right in Europe: a social psychological perspective |date=2014 |series=The Challenge of the Extreme Right in Europe: Past, Present, Future |location=Birkbeck, University of London, 20 March 2014|url=https://www.pearsinstitute.bbk.ac.uk/whats-on/the-challenge-of-the-extreme-right-in-europe-past-present-future/|journal=The Challenge of the Extreme Right in Europe: Past, Present, Future (Event)|volume=|pages=|via=|publication-place=Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism in partnership with the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London, supported by Birkbeck Institute for Social Research}}</ref> The criticism is described on the English WIkipedia page: [[Wikipedia:Horseshoe theory#Criticism|Horseshoe theory#Criticism]].