From the Right - The Familiar Dangers

This text is a preview of History of the Reception of Hegel, volume I, to be published in 2026 by Reflexivity Press.

These are largely recognized and named, but must be listed here for completeness:

Restriction of fundamental rights in the name of security:

Mass surveillance (“If you have nothing to hide…”)
Preventive detention, guilt by association
Stripping “potential threats” of their rights before any act has been committed
Negated: Self-application (power does not limit itself), recognition (suspects are no longer subjects of rights)

Militarization of politics and society:

Permanent state of exception (“war on terror,” “war on drugs,” etc.)
Rearmament without democratic debate
Military logic in civilian domains
Negated: Dialectical movement (security dilemma instead of mediation), sublation (escalation instead of de-escalation)

Dismantling of the welfare state and of culture:

“Competitiveness” as a conversation-ending argument
Subordination of all spheres of life to economic growth
Privatization even of basic public services
Negated: Self-determination (people reduced to cost factors), recognition (those in need seen as a burden)

Nationalist escalation:

“Us first” politics, heedless of global consequences
Dehumanization of migrants and refugees
Economic warfare, sanctions policy
Negated: Recognition (other nations treated as enemies), dialectical movement (zero-sum thinking)

These dangers are real. They are current. They deserve resistance. But—and this is the decisive point—they are not the only dangers.