Today our societies are facing an unprecedented constellation of challenges: the undermining of our social and religious values and traditions, the weakening of the family, and the decline of the middle class, to name but a few. Progressivism, which may formerly have seemed merely a minor intellectual endeavour, now genuinely impedes clarity of vision on these vital issues. For this reason, we need to support the voices of rational, common-sense conservatism as never before.
Hungarian Conservative, this new bimonthly journal launched by the Batthyány Lajos Foundation, intends to do just that. We believe that the political success and intellectual renaissance of Hungarian conservatism over the past ten years affords ample grounds for sharing our thoughts and experiences on these issues with both friends and intellectual adversaries abroad.
This journal aspires to be the foremost English-language voice of twenty-first-century Hungarian conservatism, and a forum for rational debate on our future. Naturally, this does not mean that it will provide a platform only for Hungarian thinkers; international contributors are likewise more than welcome. Our objective is to address the outstanding issues of conservative thought in the realms of politics, society, religion, and culture, both past and present. Conservatism, after all, is by definition not a closed and coherent system. Therefore, one intended mission of the journal is to highlight the values–and value systems–which are at times sorely missed from our lives.
Our aim is to draw attention to the fact that conservatism is as relevant as ever in answering the most pressing questions of our time, from the direct and indirect effects of globalism to environmental issues, to contemporary definitions (and redefinitions) of the relations between men and women, the role of families and, by extension, smaller communities in a globalizing world.
In the words of the American Declaration of Independence, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident’ that universal and eternal standards do exist; or to paraphrase Søren Kierkegaard, those married only to today’s ideas will soon be widowed. Hungarian Conservative, in true conservative fashion, invites its readers to embrace those ideas which have been dependable guides in the past, are so in the present, and—in our belief—will remain equally reliable in the future.
