From the wooden bookshelf that rises behind his desk, in the offices of the publishing house he has set up in an apartment in a quiet Roman residence, an unlikely trinity watched over Francesco Giubilei. Courteous and approachable, the 33-year-old intellectual, a close associate of Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and a central figure in Italian conservative nationalism, has placed three objects there that, together, represent a manifesto in and of themselves. On the right sat an English edition of a work by Roger Scruton, a British intellectual who stands as a key reference for the international conservative movement. Scruton championed local attachment and natural hierarchies and, at times, acted as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry.
Read more: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/10/23/francesco-giubilei-the-italian-connection-to-the-international-counter-revolutionary-movement_6746718_4.html[paywall]
Key Points
- Giubilei’s publishing house serves as a crossroads for international reactionary networks, publishing Israeli-American philosopher Yoram Hazony, Viktor Orban’s right-hand man Balazs Orban, and Patrick Deneen whose postliberal ideas influenced US Vice President JD Vance.
- The publisher maintains connections to Budapest’s Center for Fundamental Rights and Mathias Corvinus Collegium, two institutions organizing the European radical right’s elites under Viktor Orban’s illiberal government.
- Political scientist Lorenzo Castellani says Giubilei’s role is to show his political camp can produce ideas, have intellectual stature and international networks while occupying media space for Meloni’s circles.
- Giubilei published an anthology of speeches by Charlie Kirk through his Future Nation foundation following Kirk’s assassination, with Europe’s far right seizing the moment to pledge allegiance to Trump’s politics of coercion against domestic enemies.
The Intellectuals Behind the Global National Conservative Alliance: Foundation of a Transnational Movement
Israeli-American political theorist Yoram Hazony stands as the primary architect of the global national conservative movement, serving as chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation and president of Jerusalem’s Herzl Institute. His 2018 book The Virtue of Nationalism won the Conservative Book of the Year award and established the intellectual framework that now shapes figures like JD Vance and Donald Trump. Hazony argues that nations are built on mutual loyalty between families and larger groups rather than abstract ideals, distinguishing national conservatives from both libertarian Republicans and racialist movements. The New Republic described him as “the leading proponent of a more high-toned conservative nationalism,” noting his effectiveness as an “ideological entrepreneur” organizing conferences across Western democracies.
The movement’s intellectual foundation extends beyond Hazony to include theorists advocating fundamental governance transformations. Patrick Deneen argues the “current elite” should be replaced with “a better aristocracy brought about by a muscular populism” to advance the “common good,” including reunification of church and state. Hazony has called for traditionalist Jews to align with nationalist and conservative Christians against what he terms America’s drift toward “neo-Marxist tyranny,” proposing an alliance that would overturn Supreme Court decisions banning religious instruction in public schools. Wikipedia notes that Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin’s works serve as building blocks for the movement’s socio-economic policies, with Strauss’s critique of capitalism informing arguments for increased state economic intervention.
The Heritage Foundation has pivoted sharply toward national conservatism under president Kevin Roberts, shedding its libertarian economics emphasis for a populist agenda centered on national identity and strong executive power. This transformation culminated in Project 2025, which Roberts characterized as “institutionalizing Trumpism” and part of “the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Roberts wrote in the blueprint’s foreword that “the long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has come to pass,” signaling the belief that fundamental institutional transformation is necessary.
Hazony’s Edmund Burke Foundation organizes National Conservatism Conferences that bring together European far-right leaders with American conservatives to advance shared nationalist ideology. Many Trump appointees have attended these conferences, underscoring the alliance’s growing influence and representing a significant shift from Reagan-era free-market ideals toward protectionist governance models centered on national sovereignty and opposition to global institutions.
External References:
— The Man Behind National Conservatism
— National Conservatism — Wikipedia
— Project 2025 — Wikipedia
Disclaimer:
The Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) utilizes AI throughout the posting process, including the generation of summaries for news items, introductions, key points, and, often, the “context” section. We recommend verifying all information before use. Additionally, all images are generated using AI and are intended solely for illustrative purposes. While they represent the events or individuals discussed, they should not be interpreted as real-world photography.
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