Fusionism Book Documents Republican Shift to National Conservative Interventionism

The review details three strains within the Dissident Right: national conservatives seeking state power for national primacy, theocons aiming for a moral order through government, and neoreactionaries promoting anti-egalitarian views. These groups emerged after events including China's WTO entry without rights reforms, 2007-2008 bailouts, Iraq and Afghanistan nation-building failures, and DEI expansion. The analysis traces how these pressures replaced prior skepticism of the administrative state.

Slade attributes the change to specific policy failures while the review emphasizes the welfare-administrative state's role in crowding out civil society and fostering dependence. Historical fusionism aligned limited-government conservatives with libertarians against collectivism and communism, a coalition that fractured as both major parties adopted interventionist approaches. Primary records from legislative actions on entitlements and immigration enforcement support the documented policy shifts.

The book positions fusionism renewal as a potential corrective, though the review notes the entrenched incentives within the modern state apparatus. Data on rising public debt and tariff implementation since 2017 illustrate the measurable departure from earlier Republican positions.

Next steps center on whether institutional structures within the GOP can reestablish constraints on administrative expansion or if national conservative priorities consolidate further through 2026 midterms.